A Childhood To Remember
by GrandpaJoeProductionFanfiction
Summary: This story chronicles the early life of Jillian DeVille and her family. You see, Jill is not like other kids. While she has to deal with her own family issues, a great evil rises in the outside world. This evil only makes life harder for Jill's family. Follow along to see Jill deal with problems concerning family and life at an age when we think kids are too young to understand.
1. Prologue

"Some people have ordinary childhoods, but ours was truly unforgettable. Our family lived in a beautiful house. It was everything you could imagine. With the best money could buy. We were tucked in every night, safe from harm, behind closed doors, that were always locked." Fine, the money part and that last part might have been a bit of an overstatement, but the rest of it I sincerely mean. Just like the speaker of these words, I too lived away from the world. My mother, father, and twin brother lived in a two-story home in the outskirts of town. It was a rare event that we would ever get out of the house.

My mother, Lillian, would always make sure there were no strangers around before she would let my brother and father play in the backyard. I never really enjoyed playing outside; I would only play outside when my father would take me outside. My mother would also join in the play, but she always had a worried face when my brother and I were outside. I once asked her why she always looked as if she thought someone was watching us whenever we were outside, she replied with "I couldn't imagine someone taking my babies away," before kissing the top of my head and walking away.

The only kind of "going out" I ever enjoyed was when we left the house. My parents would take my brother and me to San Bernardino every year for our birthday. This was a stressful time for my mother, who tried her hardest to disguise herself from who knows what. My brother William, whom my parents, their friends, and I would just call Bill, always enjoyed the places he could run around. It reminded him of all the fun he could have in the backyard, except in a more open space. I always enjoyed the indoor events much more. One birthday, my parents took me to a museum in Redlands for my birthday. I enjoyed it very much, much more than my father and brother, whom appeared bored throughout the entire experience, and even my mother who faked her enjoyment, probably to please me.

On other occasions, my Aunt Kimi would take me out into the world. She wasn't a biological aunt, or an aunt of any official kind, she was just a friend of my parents who always offered to take care of me when she could. She was an Environmental and Animal rights lawyer who worked for the city, I always saw her law degree as something to aspire to. I remember when I told my mother I wanted to be a lawyer like my Aunt Kimi when I grew up. She was so sad after I had said that.

"I know you have the willpower and the brains to accomplish whatever you set your mind to," my mother said before walking out of the room, sobbing.

I never understood why my brother and I were never allowed to leave the house, or why my mother was always nervous and paranoid whenever we were in plain sight. That was until I discovered my parent's secret, something so controversial and confusing that I could only process it by reading my most treasured books. These eight treasured books were more like the Bible than novels for public consumption for me.

Because of my parent's secret, a secret that only their friends, my brother, and I knew about, if we needed anything, my parent's friends had to buy and bring it to us. It must have been really hard for them to buy everything we needed during the earliest years of my life. The previous president had completely ruined the economy by the end of his presidency, and the effects of the economic meltdown lingered for years. Luckily, the initiatives of the new president, who was inaugurated a month before my brother and I were born, helped stabilize the economy.

As the economy became less unstable, it was easier to get the adequate supplies we needed. Unfortunately, all of that ended in 2016 when the nation elected a racist, misogynist, four-times-bankruptcy-declaring, self-proclaimed billionaire to the office of President of the United States of America. Less than two months into his presidency, he had ordered all American troops stationed overseas to return home to execute his plan to deport all of the "illegal immigrants," although it was quite obvious that this was not the case. As long as you looked "illegal," you would be rounded up and deported.

I remember one time seeing a military convoy pass through the street outside. My entire family hid in the attic, just like the protagonists in one of my books. I reasoned that I, or anyone in my family, would not be deported because our fair skin and green eyes were not what the soldiers were told to look out for. We hid in the attic because my parents did not want to get caught. As I said, we weren't "illegal," but another way that the new president pandered to a key block of his constituents, the "Christian" right, was by promising to "protect traditional marriage." This sent chills down my parents' spines; they had seen what the new president was doing to the "illegals," meaning that they had no reason to believe that the new president would not do something similar to those who weren't in a "traditional marriage." We knew it was safe to leave when one of the soldier's superiors told them that their records indicated that the house was vacant, and the convoy drove passed the house.

With the new president focusing the power of the military on deporting millions of people, nations with a former American military presence soon fell into chaos. I would stay up way passed my bedtime and watch the international news for hours. I would see that Afghanistan and Iraq were overrun by militants hell-bent on killing everyone who didn't share their views, North Korea was able to threaten the South with missile strikes, China threatened Vietnam and the Philippines over control of the South China Sea, Russia constantly provoked Georgia, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the rest of Europe, and Venezuela was able to continue their guerrilla campaign the Colombian jungle without the fear of American intervention. Although, some people like myself would argue that the American presence created the tension for these conflicts to occur in the first place, but that is an intellectual debate for another time.

Adding insult to injury, the new president's economic policies sent us down a downwards spiral, one worse than any other before. His policies ignited a trade war with China, and alienated many important allies, such as those in NATO, a military alliance he no longer saw useful and terminated the United States' membership in. If all of this wasn't bad enough already, the remaining money the nation still had he used on plating the White House in gold, and building a wall on the US-Mexico Border, even though he promised to make Mexico pay for the wall.

Eventually, the situation got so bad that my family could no longer continue to live the way we did. With international crises and the military focused on deporting "illegals," and "controlling" protestors, we had to find a way to get away from it all. Luckily my parent's ingenious friends were able to get us really far away from all of the conflict, but before I tell you that story, I feel as if I should tell you the story before that one.


	2. Mommy And Daddy's Secret

I recall a friend of mine once telling one of his children, "In our family, you don't inherit something from your father's side or your mother's side, you either inherit something or you don't." While his statement best explains his own family's complicated history, I apply a diluted version to my own family. Spending most of my young life inside a home with three other people who look just like me, I was surprised the first couple times I met people who weren't part of my family. The concept that there were people who didn't have green eyes and oily wavy brown hair struck me as foreign for a long time, but as I grew up and was able to remember more and more, I realized diversity was something important to the society that I rarely experienced.

As I said before, my family and I hardly ever left the house we lived in. While our parents did eventually explain to my brother and me when they deemed us old enough to understand, I had learned the truth through my own observations before they told us. One day when I was three I was wondering through the garage when I came across a box labeled "Smuggled stuff." I was afraid of what could be inside, but I summed up the courage to open it, and it was full of toys, video games, and photo albums. An album under an old green toy dinosaur with blue spikes and red eyes caught my attention. I removed the old dinosaur toy that must have not been played with in years since it was so dusty, and I didn't recall my brother or me ever owning this kind of dinosaur, to get the photo album that caught my attention.

I looked inside the albums, and at first it seemed as if they were baby pictures of my brother and me because the infants in the photos wore the same pink undershirt and turquoise overshirt that we used to wear as babies. The first thing that helped me identify who were the individuals in the photos was the fact that the quality of the photos was something that dated back to before my brother and I were born. Also, there were photos in other albums that looked like my parents and their friends in their preteen and teenage years. As I put everything back in the box, I came to the conclusion that my parents knew each other since they were kids.

About a year later I discovered some more evidence to back my parentage theory. One night I was having trouble sleeping. I got out of bed and walked through the dark hallway to the half-opened door of my parent's room. As I got closer to the door, more of the hallway became illuminated with the light from the lamps they had turned on inside. I didn't want to bother them because I knew they would be just as exhausted as I was, but I didn't know who else could help me.

I didn't expect to hear moaning sounds and heavy breathing when I reached the door, but I did. I was about to open the door when I caught a glimpse of what was occurring inside my parent's room, and nothing could have prepared me for this moment. I looked at the foot of the bed and saw the naked body of my father thrusting on my mother. I quickly turned away and hid behind the door, but I could still hear my parents inside their room.

As my parents continued, my mother moaned, "Oh brother!"

At first I thought she was referring to the expression that signifies astonishment with something, but then my father stopped kissing my mother's neck and cleavage and replied, "Oh brother? Oh sister!"

I stood behind the door, I didn't move because I was in shock of what I had just witnessed. I eventually broke out of my trance, and the first thing I thought of after that was getting back to mine and Bill's room. I ran back to our room, jumped into my bed, and buried my head in my pillows. I lied there contemplating what I had seen for at least a few minutes before I heard my parents' voice outside my room. I stayed still when I heard the door open, as to not give my parents the idea that I was awake. This turned out to be a great choice as I soon heard my father and mother talking.

"See, the kids are asleep," said my father to my curious mother.

"Okay, but I saw a small body run from the door, and I heard footsteps going in this direction," my mother said, replying to my father's observation.

"You're just imagining things," said my father as he shut the door before presumably going to sleep.

After that event, I didn't seem to have a need to go to sleep. I just sat in my bed thinking.

The final piece of evidence to back my theory came about a year later as well. I had just finished a book, and I was waiting for my Aunt Kimi to send me the sequel from her law school. Even though I had finished an entire book, I had an urge to read everything. I had finished reading everything that was out in the open in the house, so I went looking through closets and drawers to find any interesting text. I made my way to my parent's room and started looking through a drawer in their dresser. At the bottom of that drawer I found some hand-written notes, all written by my father. This one note in particular was dated Monday, June 14, 2004, and I can still remember what it said.

"My precious Lillian, it hurts me to say that I feel we have been growing apart in the last couple years. I feel as if this is somehow my fault. Maybe if I didn't anger you all the way back then, I wouldn't have driven you away. Driven you into the arms of Diane, Leslie, and, uhh, Brett. I hate them, I hate them all! I know they got into your head and made you move out of our room. It was at that moment that I truly understood the saying 'You don't truly miss something until it's gone.' Wally breaking up with me didn't help either. It was our breakup that made me realize that I was trying to substitute you with her. All the love and affection I gave her, was really for you. But, what I hate more is now that we're entering high school, you will surely grow even farther away from me. You are turning into a woman, I, a man, and that's what makes me want you even more. These kinds of thoughts have been in my mind for years now, all throughout middle school, I don't even see them as wrong anymore. Since I know that you'll never get to read these letters, they are really just for me to release my deepest secrets and desires, such as, every night I sleep with a pillow in my arms. I like to kiss it and pretend it's you. You'll never know how much I love you. I fear I love you so much that it clouds my judgment. I don't know what it is inside me, but I always manage to scare or gross out every boy who shows a bit of interest in you. If you ever catch on to me, I just want you to know that I can't help it. I love you Lillian Marie Jill DeVille. Love, your twin brother, no, your true love, Phillip Richard Bill DeVille."

I put the note on my lap as I was sitting with my legs crossed on the floor as I read the note. I thought about what I had just read, although I should say that my book did help "desensitize" me to these kinds of "twisted" and "demented" relationships. All I could think of was that I had the final piece of evidence to conclude that my hypothesis was correct. Also, I was still pretty young, but I had heard a bit about how people psychoanalyze writings, and I wanted to do that with this. I had no formal training at the time, but I theorized that my father was in some kind of depressed state, along with also being deeply angry and even very possessive when he wrote this note, in other words, all over the map.

I decided to look over the note again, just to make sure I had read it correctly. I sat there on the floor reading the note, I was so intrigued that I didn't notice my parents walk into their room.

My father asked in a worried tone, "What are you reading, Jillian?"

I brought the note down from my face, walked over to my father, and hugged him.

"Don't worry daddy, I still love you," I said with my head buried between his legs.

I looked up to see my father looking at my mother, the look in their eyes signified that they had been dreading this day for a long time, luckily they had each other. The look must have also signaled my mother to go get Bill, because while my father picked me up and sat me on his lap while he sat on his bed, my mother left the room and returned with Bill. I handed my father the note, and he reviewed it before speaking to us. Both of us were seated on our parent's laps when they tried their hardest to explain this to us. All of this was much easier for me to take in since I had suspected it for years already. I still remember the confused and rather scared look on Bill's face while he heard every word our parents said. My brother and I walked into that room with a mom, dad, and twin, but we came out with an aunt, uncle, and cousin as well.


	3. Something In The Flowers

I don't know if you have noticed, but I happen to start every chapter with some sort of Dollanganger reference, and I've brought up a certain book when talking about my early life. I feel as if I should explain this in detail, so that you may better understand me. For those of you who are not familiar with the Dollanganger saga, it is a collection of eight books, five if you are a so-called "hardcore fan" because three of the books, usually treated as a separate collection called the Diary Series, were written by a ghostwriter. The Diary Series is treated this way because many believe the ghostwriter wrote them on his own after resurgence in interest in the original author's work just to cash in, although they all seem to forget he completed the prequel to the original book. Although, the prequel had a plot laid out before the author died, and who knows if the Diary Series was in a list for new story ideas.

Anyways, enough of the Diary Series for now. The original book, Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews, tells the story of four children whose father dies, and move into their rich grandparent's Virginia mansion. Unfortunately, the reality is that the grandparents are religious fanatics, and the children suffer, hidden away from the world in a small room for three years four months and sixteen days. Their only entertainment was reading books, playing games, decorating the attic to make it resemble a garden with paper flowers of all colors, except yellow, because yellow symbolizes hope.

Like Dollanganger fans of my generation, we came to learn of the books when the Lifetime network decided to turn Flowers into a television movie. I remember when I first saw the TV spot for the film, it was only a few days after New Year's, and it was around 10:00 AM. I walked through the living room, and my mother was watching television. Eventually, the program went to commercials, and my mother saw this as an opportunity to prepare the lesson she was going to teach my brother and me today.

The one thing my mother hoped I, and to an extent her, would accomplish that day, as with every other day, would be for me to say a word. I don't mean that she wanted me to participate in the activity; she literally wanted me to say a word. Unlike my brother who began to speak when he was a year old, as do most babies, I didn't utter my first words until I was four, nearly five. It's not that I didn't understand, I did, I could read, it's just that I was mute. Compared to my brother, I was the "Slow one" in the eyes of my parents and their friends. Even though I knew I understood what my mother was teaching me, the thought of being the "Slow one" depressed me, especially when I considered my parentage theory.

I was waiting in the living room for my mother to prepare that day's lesson when the TV spot for Flowers in the Attic aired. It started with the song "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Taken by Trees, and it played throughout the entire TV spot. As I said, I couldn't speak, but I could think fast. This came in handy as all TV spots go by pretty fast. It started with the front view of the mansion; "Foxworth Hall," the mansion even had a sign that had the name of the mansion hanging over the entrance. A second later, that turned into a piece of text saying "The book you were forbidden to read." I realized that this must be another movie adapted from a book, but I continued watching.

The following scenes showed the blond family entering the mansion, but soon after everything began to become darker. I remember the old lady yelled at the woman to "do it" and screaming at the older boy "Now!" The old lady then continued to show the kids and the woman that she is the one in charge, and that she is the one that will "execute the punishment." The TV spot then goes to show some of the main characters and the actors portraying them, and after a couple more scenes, it ended.

I would usually ignore TV spots like these as ploys by the studio to try to gain the money they used on making these films, but something was different about this one. Unlike my mother, I don't consider myself a superstitious person. I try to find a logical and scientific explanation to anything odd that happens to me or others. But, to this day, I cannot find an explanation to what drew me to watch that TV spot. I don't want to say this, but it might, might, have been some kind of spiritual power that made me watch.

If there was one thing in the TV spot that caught my attention was when the older girl tells the older boy "You think I'm pretty." Another thing that caught my attention was that there were hardly any scenes of them outside, other than in the end of the TV spot. Also, they never seem to interact with anyone outside their family. If you were to also take in the information given to us at the beginning of the TV spot, "The book you were forbidden to read," and put all of it together, you can get another theory similar to my parentage one. I reasoned that the older boy and girl were siblings, and that they formed some sort of relation. The "controversial" nature of their relationship must have been why many people were "forbidden" to read the book.

Right before the TV spot ended my mother called me and my brother over to begin our homeschool lesson. I walked over to her without taking my eyes of the television. I noticed the last part of the TV spot; the text said "Lifetime World Premiere Movie January 18." I thought it over, and I decided that I would be interested in watching the film.

My mother stated her lesson for the day, today it was phonics flashcards. She held up a flash card and we respond with the sound that the letter or letters on the card make. My mother started with me, trying to get me to say my first word. The card she had in front of me was the "Ch" one.

"Come on Jill, just say what I say. Ch, Ch, Ch," she said with some enthusiasm, even though deep down she knew I would not say it.

I looked at her and the card before looking down at my hand and began to play with my fingers. My mother looked so disappointed in me, but a bit disappointed in herself when I would not pronounce the sound of the letters. She decided she would have better chance at success if she tested Bill. Other than a couple of mistakes, he did rather well. The only thing that kept me from crying over not being able to speak was the Flowers in the Attic movie. I kept thinking about January 18th, and how I would sit in the living room and watch the film to see if my theory was correct.

Eventually January 18th rolled by, a day I had been awaiting for about two weeks. The film was promoted as airing at 8 PM, but since we lived on the West Coast and the channel ran on East Coast time, it aired at 5 PM. Luckily I caught this before 5 PM, but there was still a problem, watching it. My family sat in the living room, and my parents were trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. As always, they chose TV as today's pastime. It was the only window to the outside world that was readily available after all.

As with choosing what program to watch, one person will suggest something, and someone will contest it. Another person will suggest something else, and someone else will contest that, over and over and over. As the other three, but really two because "Who is going to listen to a kid?" continued debating what to watch, I realized I had to tell them that I wanted to watch the Flowers in the Attic film. The problem was that I couldn't speak. I never had to ask for stuff because I had everything I needed, and I felt that I wasn't that demanding of a child.

The clock said 4:50 PM, meaning I only had 10 minutes to get my parents to let me watch it. I walked up to them and started pulling on their pants' legs and pointing at the television. At first they ignored me, choosing to continue debating over what to watch. I was at this for about five more minutes, and every couple minutes my parents would try to stop me.

"I'll get to you in a minute," my mother told me.

"Jill, not now," my father responded.

I didn't want to miss a single minute of the film, and at the rate that the debate was going, I was going to miss the whole thing. 5 PM was just a few minutes away and I needed to get their attention somehow. That's when I felt that same power that made me watch the TV spot in the first place take control over me. I inhaled a large breath and let out my thoughts.

"Flowers," I screamed at my parents.

When they heard me scream, they stopped from arguing and turned their attention to me.

My mother came down to my level and asked, "What did you say?"

"Flowers! Jill watch Flowers!"

She got up and hugged my father, screaming, "Phillip, she said her first word! Her first word!"

Unknowingly making the moment about me, I hoped to use this to my advantage. I don't know the odds, but the TV spot for Flowers in the Attic came on, and I used it as an opportunity to get what I wanted.

I screamed, "Jill watch Flowers!"

My father asked, "What?"

I pointed at the television and my mother replied, "I think she wants to watch that."

"Jill watch Flowers!"

I was able to get it through that I wanted to watch the film, and I did, we all did. I got to see the Dollanganger children's lives be turned upside down during their time in the attic. I even got to prove my theory on the sibling's relationship, I was correct. A couple of days later when my parents were making a list of what they needed their friends to bring them, I made sure to place an order.

"I read Flowers now," I said.

It took a while for my parents to figure out what was going on, but I eventually got them to understand what I was asking for. They didn't hesitate to get me the book, although it took quite a couple weeks. My Aunt Kimi bought it at a bookstore at her law school, had it sent over to her brother who gave it to my mother who gave it to me on mine and Bill's 5th birthday as my Aunt Kimi's gift to me. The cover of the book was black and white with a blonde girl in a black dress on it. It was covered with the images of red roses, and in one of those roses it had a message promoting it as the book that the hit movie was based on. Above the title of the book lied a message declaring the book "The classic novel of forbidden love."

I much more enjoyed the book than the movie. I'm not just saying that to sound like every bookworm ever, I said it because there was more detail in the book, more to learn about. I read aloud from the book's passages every day, by the end of the book, my speech had become less choppy as I practiced by speaking the words on the pages. I often laughed every time Cathy said "Oh, golly-lolly," but I also felt other emotions like anger and sadness as well. Even though the book covered many "adult themes" I wanted to continue reading the Dollanganger family story. I noticed that all of the books written by VC Andrews were included in a page at the beginning of the book, and I told my parents I wanted the next book in the series, Petals on the Wind. I eventually got that book, and by then I had proven correct my own parentage theory, and all of the books that came after and before that one. I also made sure to tune in to watch the three other movies Lifetime made, with my family at my side, even if the films got a bit graphic at times.


	4. The Arrested Girl's Testimony

The older I got, the less complacent I became with spending all of my time indoors. Watching television and reading books exposed me to so much of the outside world, that just going out once a year wasn't good enough for me. I don't want to sound like a spoiled child, but going out was the one thing that I wanted, just like Cathy Dollanganger. And, just like Cathy Dollanganger, my constant complaints eventually lead to my mother letting me go out. Instead of hiding me in a liquor cabinet during a Christmas party, my mother organized for my Aunt Kimi to take me to her work.

She had graduated from Stanford Law School about a year ago, and had spent the last year working at the local police headquarters. One day in late April 2016 she came early one day, wearing a navy blue pantsuit and her hair in a ponytail, looking rather professional. I dressed myself in the best clothes I had, and brushed my hair and teeth thoroughly before leaving. Right before I left, my mother gave me some money, she thought that it would be better that I pay for what I eat since my Aunt Kimi is one of the people who buy everything we need.

We got into my Aunt Kimi's black car, and we drove for no more than fifteen minutes. When we arrived at the police headquarters she told me that if anyone asked who I was I was to say that I was Sophie DeFranco, a member of a program where schools arrange for students to shadow and learn from professional, basically turning my Aunt Kimi into a mentor of sorts. For the first few minutes, her tour was rather interesting. She showed me where the police officers and the regular lawyers work, where they keep their inmates, and the recreational room where everyone goes for their break. She had taken the day off to show me around, but she had forgotten to send some documents the previous day, so she needed to go to her office for a while.

Her office was quite small; there was a desk, two chairs, a bookshelf and a couch. She sat in her desk chair to send the documents on her computer she forgot to send the other day. Behind her she had her diplomas and family photos hanging on the wall. At first, she said she would not take that long for her to do what she had to do. Five minutes passed and she still had to do more work, so I took the liberty of alphabetizing the books on her shelf. A couple of minutes passed, and one of my Aunt Kimi's co-workers opened the door to ask for a favor.

"Oh, great, Kimi, you're here. Listen, there was a bit of a riot at the Thump rally in San Bernardino. The guys over there couldn't handle everyone, so they sent us all the Yucaipa people. We want to process everyone before Kabadaian gets back, and I know this is not your field, but I need you to process some people," said my Aunt Kimi's co-worker, Jeffrey.

"Actually Jeffrey, I'm not working today, I'm just sending some stuff I forgot to send yesterday."

"I know, it will just be one, it shouldn't take that long."

"Fine, but I have a kid here though, so don't send someone violent."

"Okay, fine, it's just one woman."

After this brief conversation an officer brought in a bruised blonde woman with messed up hair and blood coming out of her nose. As soon as my Aunt Kimi saw her, she shook her head.

When the officer closed the door, my Aunt Kimi had to ask, "Angelica Pickles, why doesn't this surprise me?"

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. Listen I shouldn't even be here."

"Yeah, that's what they all say, but I need to input your testimony into your file, so tell me what happened."

"Okay, listen, so I'm leaving the rally, right after buying this great Thump shirt. So after I make the purchase, I walk out of the convention center and I find the place overrun by protestors. They are all holding signs spewing outrageous lies like 'Ronald Thump is racist.' Out of nowhere, protestors make it over the barrier and begin to attack us peaceful Thump supporters. I tried to run away and make it to my car, but some fat Mexican bitches cornered me. One got me in a Full Nelson, and you know what, I'm so pissed, that I'm going to do the accent. The one that was in front of me said something like, 'Ju gringa, ohl weit peepol aree reiseest,' and the other one went all Dave Skylark and told the one in front of me to 'Cunt punt that bitch!' Soon after, the police arrived to stop them and they brought me here."

My Aunt Kimi shook her head as she entered all of this information into her computer.

She was so dissatisfied by what Angelica told her that she showed her the monitor of her computer and asked, "Is this one of the women who attacked you?"

"Yeah, that was the 'cunt punt that bitch' one."

"Well then, why does her file, a file linked to yours, paint a different picture? In Maria Velasquez's testimony, she says that you exited with a group of older people who were taunting the protestors. She says that she was there to protests Thump's statements on immigrants and that an older and heavy woman in your group screamed at her 'Get out of my country!' before preforming the Nazi salute. When one the protestors talked back, the older lady punched her and the fighting began. She then said that it was you who threw the first punch during your altercation, and that you even refused to stop fighting once the officer arrived."

"Hem, well, she's clearly lying."

"Well, she works for a non-profit organization that helps undocumented youth get into college, while you are an unemployed trust fund baby with several DUIs, caught posseting narcotics who hangs around Neo-Nazi's, and does a horrible, and by that I mean both racist and talentless, Mexican accent. Who do you think I'm going to believe?"

Angelica sat there in shock as if she had never been or was not used to being put in her place before. I stood there looking at her, and after a few seconds she turned her attention to me in order to avoid my Aunt Kimi's stare. After a second of her looking at me, I turned back to face the bookshelf.

Angelica turned her attention over to my Aunt Kimi again, and said, "That kid."

"Yeah, what about her?"

"The hair, the eyes, the ET shaped head."

"What are you getting at Angelica?"

"She kinda looks like a young Lil."

"That's absurd; you know that Phil and Lil are dead."

When my Aunt Kimi said that my parents were dead, I wanted to call her a liar, but I realized that the moment might not be appropriate.

Angelica then asked, "What does that have to do with her?"

"Uh, nothing, I was just reminding you about Phil and Lil," my Aunt Kimi said nervously.

The officer came in to take Angelica, but before she left the room, I swear I heard her whisper to herself, "Then, it is you. You are real."


	5. A Quick Talk

Once Angelica was taken out and all of the paperwork was sent, my Aunt Kimi got out of her chair and asked me to follow her.

I stood at the bookshelves and asked, "Why did you tell her that my parents were dead?"

My Aunt Kimi was caught off guard by this question. She came over to me, bent her knees to see me at eye level, placed her hand on my cheek, and said, "Oh, sorry sweetie. I didn't mean to scare you, but Angelica needs to believe that your mom and dad are dead."

"But why?"

"Your parents should explain it to you later, but now, let's go."

As we made it over to the door, we heard a man on the outside begin to scream.

The man, clearly angry, began to shout, "The fuck is this?! The fuck is this?! This is bullshit!"

In an effort to keep me safe, my Aunt Kimi put me in the far corner and shut the door. She told me to stay put because she was going to go outside and see what the problem was. I asked her if she was afraid of what the criminal could do to her, but she said that the angry man wasn't a criminal, but the Chief-of-Police. I stood in the corner for a couple minutes, but after a while I got bored of just standing. Also, the Chief-of-Police seemed to have calmed down by now, meaning it was safe to exit my Aunt Kimi's office.

Once I was out, I saw a tall man unlocking the handcuffs of those being detained. I realized this tall man was the Chief-of-Police when he began to talk.

"There you go. So this is what life is like in this Socialist Muslim dictatorship we live in thanks to this illegitimate Kenyan president. Decent Americans are rounded up and being turned into political prisoners just for being awakened, not as long as I'm alive," he said proudly as many people like Jeffery Petersen buried their faces in their palms and shook their heads. One of the people he un-handcuffed was Angelica Pickles, and as the Chief-of-Police was on his way to his office, Angelica stopped him.

"Excuse me, Chief Kabadaian, I just wanted to say that speech was perfect," she said with actual admiration.

"You're welcome. I see you got the blue Thump shirt. We Thump supporters need to stick together if we want to win."

"Oh, thank you, although, I'm going to have to wash it good to get the blood out."

"Huh, is it your blood?"

"Yes it is, why?"

"I say keep it, future generations need to see all the literal blood, sweat, and tears that went into making America terrific again!"

"God, I love that slogan. Finally, we won't be the laughing stock of the world. We'll be right on top again."

"I know, finally there's a candidate that understands and knows how to do it."

"Yeah, listen chief, there's something I want to talk about. A real crime, not like the bogus one our Thump-supporting brothers and sisters were arrested for."

"Of course, come over to my office, we'll talk about it in private."

Angelica followed Kabadaian to his office, and I decided to follow them. I knew my Aunt Kimi told me to stay in her office, but I had to know more. If Angelica knew something about my family, she could reveal it to the Chief-of-Police. I followed them down a hallway, giving them distance as to keep my presence hidden. There was one room at the end of the hallway with a plaque that read "Michael Kabadaian, Yucaipa Police Department Chief-of-Police." I reasoned that they were in the room, so I put my ear next to the door to listen to the conversation.

"Thank you for the drink," Angelica said.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?"

"No, yeah, I'm fine, and if it wasn't for me drinking and driving, I never would have come down here to the police station and met you sir. Oh, and you used the idea I gave you at the Pickles residence. When I heard that my Aunt Didi almost fainted when she saw a sign on her lawn saying 'Thump doesn't take money from special interests and those goddamn bankers in Jew York!' I was all like, 'Kabadaian, you bastard prankster!' I mean, I don't know how they could have seen that as Anti-Semitic."

"Yeah, don't they know that we are just spreading the truth?"

"Good times, listen, about what I wanted to talk about. What is your opinion on Inbreds and Incest?"

"The Inbred is a vile creature that needs to be eliminated, but those who bring them into this world are worse. Those who commit the sin of Incest must be punished before being publicly executed. I would make the man cut his own genitals off with a steak knife, feed them to a dog, then make the man eat the dog's shit. I hope Thump addresses this threat to civilization in his next speech, because you know, it happens more often than you think."

"Yeah, torture and a public execution, watch out DeVilles," Angelica whispered to herself as she said this in a much lower tone.

"Okay, because what if I were to tell you that there are..."

Angelica stopped speaking and the room stayed quiet. I was so fixated on listening to the conversation that I didn't notice my Aunt Kimi grab my wrist and pull me away from the door.

"What are you doing? I've been looking all over for you," my Aunt Kimi said in a relieved tone.

"Angelica's in there, shh," I replied.

Just like that, I found my Aunt Kimi and myself listening to the conversation in Kabadaian's office.

"Angie, Angie," Kabadaian kept repeating, trying to get her to respond.

"Sorry, I don't know what happened. It's like if some energy came over me and derailed my train of thought. Oh god, I don't remember everything I was going to say."

"You were going to tell me there is something."

"Yeah, but now I don't want to start a panic. But, I think there might be an incestuous couple in the area."

It was those words that sent Kabadaian into a rage, one larger than the one he had when he saw everyone arrested at the rally. My Aunt Kimi pulled me away from the door and began to walk me away from the door.

"You know what? I'm in the mood to get something to drink," my Aunt Kimi told me as we walked out of the hallway leading to Kabadaian's office.

Even though we got farther away from the door, I could still hear Kabadaian screaming at Angelica, "Tell me everything you know!"


	6. All Eyes On Me

My Aunt Kimi drove for a few minutes until we reached a long building complex where the front wall of one business stuck out more than the one before it. In other words, the complex was shaped like a lightning bolt. It was around One PM when we arrived. My Aunt Kimi parked her car right in front of the coffee shop that we would go into. It was the business at the end of the building complex. This coffee shop, the Java Lava, was run by my Aunt Kimi's parents, and apparently she and her friends used to hang out here since they were in diapers. Before we could even make it into the building, Chuckie, my Aunt Kimi's brother, stopped us.

"Kimi, what are you doing here? You have her," Chuckie asked in a cautious and quiet voice.

"I thought we'd stop by, besides all of our parents aren't here today."

"No, you're wrong, they're all here! Even the Carmichaels, that's how much they all are here."

My Aunt Kimi's face turned white when she heard that. She grabbed me by the arm and began to lead me away from the door, just like she did outside Kabadaian's office. We were about to get into her car when a voice called out to her.

"Kimi, where are you going? We're all here," the woman's voice called out.

My Aunt Kimi slowly turned around, and said with her jaw closed and a fake smile, "Hi mom."

"You need to visit more often, or at least call more."

"Okay, I'll try to."

My Aunt Kimi's mother turned her attention to me, the little girl hiding behind her daughter's legs.

She bent her knees to get to my level and said, "Hi there little one. I'm Mrs. Finster, what's your name?"

My Aunt Kimi moved me in front of her mother and introduced me as Sophie DeFranco. Mrs. Finster stuck out her hand to shake mine, but I couldn't without twitching.

"H...he...hello," I stuttered as I shook her hand.

Mrs. Finster got up from squatting and invited us inside. Inside I saw both people I knew, but also a lot of people that I didn't know. That just made me even more anxious. We made it to the front counter where a woman in her late fifties worked the counter.

My Aunt Kimi approached the counter and gave the woman her order, "Hi, can I get a small coffee."

"And what for the kid? Well, hello there."

My response wasn't vocal, but I did nod my head. I also didn't look at the woman who was behind the counter because I was too busy looking at my hands, they were twitching so much it looked like my fingers were patting each other.

My Aunt Kimi responded for me, "I'm sorry, she's a bit shy."

"A bit shy?"

My Aunt Kimi got down and brought me up to one of the stools on the side of the counter before introducing me to the woman.

She tilted my head up and said, "Sophie, this is Betty DeVille, she works here."

The way she said "DeVille" made me feel both strange and calm. I assumed that she was introducing me to family. While my Aunt Kimi was trying to introduce me to my family, I knew I couldn't say anything that would reveal my true identity because for some reason my Aunt Kimi didn't want anyone else to know who I was.

My Aunt Kimi thought about what to get me until an idea came to her mind. She went over to her brother and got him behind the counter. She sat me in a stool and gave me her jacket. Betty got out of the way and stood behind me.

Betty then came down and whispered in my ear, "Look, they're going to make the Finster-Finster Shake. It took a lot of time for them to master this trick."

My Aunt Kimi, looking nervous, exclaimed to everyone inside, "Okay everyone, we haven't done this in years, but I think I can still do it."

What happened next looked like something out of a well-choreographed show. My Aunt Kimi de-vined a whole grapevine into a bowl, only to throw them into the air so that Chuckie could catch them with the blender. She then peeled a banana and squeezed it out of its peel like if she was shooting a gun. The final ingredients came in the form of two ice cream scoops which my Aunt Kimi again threw in the air so that Chuckie would catch them. Chuckie then blended the contents, and after a few seconds he poured the contents in a cup and handed it to me.

While everyone in the room cheered for the sibling duo, my Aunt Kimi celebrated by screaming, "Yes, I knew I still had it!"

While the applause calmed down, one slow clapped lingered in the background. I turned around to see Angelica clapping and slowly approaching the counter.

"Very good. Now Finster, get me an Irish Coffee," Angelica commanded.

"So, how was your meeting with Kabadaian? I guess he let you go because he was also throwing punches down at the rally," my Aunt Kimi said straight to Angelica's face.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. If I were you I wouldn't be talking smack about my boss if someone in here has his number on them," Angelica replied back to her face.

"He's not my boss, Angelica."

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter what he is to you, as long as he can ruin your career if he felt like it."

"Well, if I were you I'd be looking for a job instead of getting into fist fights outside a Neo-Fascist's rally"

"Umm, Finster how's my coffee coming along? Susie, turn on the TV, there's going to be a report on the rally. And, Uncle Stu, you build stuff, right? Do you know where I could buy some C-4? The guys want me me to take some to a protest outside Planned Parenthood. Apparently God told Gladice we need to punish them because they've been murdering babies there, even though I've done business with them many times and I haven't seen them killing anyone."

"Angelica, Angelica, Angelica, hold on a sec. God told Gladice that Planned Parenthood is killing babies? Did I hear you right?"

"Yeah, he whispered it into her ear. I mean, I was standing next to her when it happened and I didn't hear anything, but who am I to question?"

The entire room looked surprised at Angelica when she spoke. We could not believe how she could believe what she was saying.

"Angelica, I think you've been spending too much time with these people," my Aunt Kimi remarked.

"Oh, come on. I mean it makes sense. Gladice said that God told her that it is our duty to bring God's punishment onto Planned Parenthood. God also told her that we need to do the same to Gays, Mexicans, and Muslims."

"You do realize I'm going to have to report this."

"Yeah, the guys thought this would happen. That's why Kabadaian and I wrote an email to Thump. If you try to jail us again for our political or religious beliefs, you and your department will be in the national spotlight."

"God, just shut up Angelica. Those aren't religious beliefs, and since when are you religious?"

"I'm not just going to stand around and let you belittle me. I'd like to drink my coffee in peace."

Angelica grabbed her cup of coffee on the counter and took a sip out of the cup.

She spit it out and screamed, "The hell is this?"

"It's coffee, you know we don't serve alcohol here. And, I don't even work here, so don't order me to make you a coffee," Chuckie responded.

"I have to do everything myself, don't I," Angelica muttered as she walked outside.

She returned with a glass bottle of what appeared to be whisky, and drank from both the bottle and the cup of coffee. Everyone decided to leave her alone, but then everyone turned their attention to me. I tried to drink my shake, but everyone's gaze made me nervous. They all began to ask questions about what was I doing with my Aunt Kimi and about me. My Aunt Kimi tried to answer most of the questions, but a few came up that I had to answer. It seemed that every response I gave I stuttered and spoke way too fast while my hands trembled.

"So, where did you say you lived, Sophie? Outside of town," Betty's husband, Howard, asked.

"Y...y...yes," I said with trembling hands.

"It must be fun learning all about what Kimi does? You must be quite smart if your school lets you do this," Tommy's mother, Didi, asked.

"Yes i...it is. A...and th...th...thank you," I said stuttering and speaking rather fast during the middle of the sentence.

The more questions the adults asked, the more I anxious I got, making my speech even worse. My speech got so bad that every time I spoke, Angelica became more and more agitated. Even though she was seated on the other side of the cafe, with every stutter her left eye, right from my perspective, twitched like my hands. Eventually, she had enough, so she got up and pulled a small orange bottle from her pocket. She dumped some of the contents on the table and gently hit the contents with her glass bottle. After putting most of the crushed contents back into the orange bottle, she picked up a small piece of the contents and walked over to our table.

"Swallow it with your drink," Angelica said as she placed the content, what now appeared to be a pill, in my mouth and poured some of my Finster-Finster Shake into my mouth.

"What the Hell is your problem! She almost choked," my Aunt Kimi screamed at Angelica.

"Her stuttering was getting on my nerves, that's why I gave her some Valium," Angelica said calmly.

"What, you gave her Valium! She can't be taking that," my Aunt Kimi said rather worried.

"Calm down you big baby, I cut the pill in half, as if I was going to waste an entire dose!"

"Wait, what are you doing with Valium?"

"Eh, why am I still here, I have a protest to get to. Also, it should kick in soon," Angelica said as she got her stuff and left.


	7. Your Average Conversion

Soon after Angelica left, I began to feel more relaxed. My hands no longer twitched, and I no longer stuttered. My speech slowed down, I think my Aunt Kimi thought my speech was too slow. Even though Angelica had left, the television still had the news on, reporting about the fighting that took place outside the rally. Even though the LA news networks were the first to report on it, national and international news networks became interested once the word broke out that another altercation took place outside a Thump rally.

The local news aired an interview by a national news organization featuring one of their reporters on Thump's plane. On the left side of the screen stood the reporter, on the right side stood a man in his late 60's with a bad comb-over of his still remaining blond hair, and an even worse spray tan.

The reporter asked Thump if he would condemn the violence outside his rally, to which Thump replied, "Well, there was no real violence. Any fighting was started by the Mexicans. By the way, have you seen the latest polls, I'm winning with Latinos, they love me! I'm going to win the Latino vote, and honestly, the two other guys in the race should just drop out!"

The reporter with a confused look on his face asked Thump if he was serious when he said that there was no violence, again Thump replied asininely, "Look, there is no proof that there is violence at my rallies. In fact, I just got an email by two supporters from the area. One of them was wrongly imprisoned for expressing her beliefs. She's a brave woman for standing up for what she believes in, and it shows how corrupt the criminal justice system is. Whose fault is it that the system is so corrupt? It is the fault of the Crooked Secretary and the President, who by the way was not even born in this country, not good. My opponents like to make up lies about me because they are just jealous that they don't have the numbers I have. I have the best numbers! Everyone all over the country is supporting me, after Indiana I'm coming back to California where I have a great lead, I mean, it's just amazing. The rest of these losers are going to try and bring me down, but I'm not going to stop because my campaign and I are making America terrific again."

While I sat in the chair rather dazed, the consensus in the room was almost unanimous, Thump was not qualified to be president. The only ones who disagreed were Angelica's parents.

"I'm not a Thump supporter like Angelica, but I'll support him if he's the nominee. I'll do what it takes to keep the economy afloat," Charlotte, Angelica's mother said.

"Huh, it's been more than a decade since you left the corporate world, but you still can't seem to get that Trickle-Down crap out of your mind," my Aunt Kimi responded.

Trying to stop a fight between my Aunt Kimi and Charlotte from starting, Susie, one of my parent's friends said, "You know what, I'm starting to get worried about Angelica. Not just my usual worried feeling because she drinks and always seems to have drugs on her, but because she seems to be changing ever since she started to hang out with that group. I went up to them once to try and get them to stop misleading Angelica, and they threatened to lynch me and called me 'Nig...,' well, you know. I fear that the more she hangs around them, the more she'll become like them. I already hear her saying borderline racist things."

"I'm no Psychologist, but I don't believe Angelica is racist, she's just stupid. She has found a home with this group, and she will fool herself into believing what they say to remain a part of the group," my Aunt Kimi said before covering my ears with her hands.

Even though she probably covered my ears so that I wouldn't hear what she was going to say, I vaguely heard my Aunt Kimi tell the group, "Another way I can tell she's probably not racist is that she definitely loves Black men, you know what I mean."

As she removed her hands from my ears, another one of my parent's friends, Dil contributed to the conversation, saying "Well, Angelica and those guys are being duped. Don't you know that Thump was on the phone with the former President, the Secretary's husband, the day before he announced his campaign. He's doing all of this, acting crazy, to make the Secretary look good."

"Dil, I'm not going to believe a conspiracy theory you read on a blog," Tommy, another one of my parent's friends, said scolding his younger brother.

"First off T, it's a Vlog, and it's not a theory. Ethan Walden is credible, he found evidence of aliens, and he discovered that the Neokosmos space station will use prisoners as its workforce," Dil responded in way that made it sound like he was used to giving these kinds of responses.

"Oh yeah, the Neokosmos space station, the one the military is building in LA, is totally going to be worked on by prisoners," Tommy sarcastically commented.

"No, they are going to be inside the station while the thing is up in space. The prisoners will be like Guinea Pigs for the government scientists. Although, I wouldn't mind being up there, I could have another encounter with aliens," Dil said trying to clear up what he had pointed out before.

My Aunt Kimi took a final sip from her coffee and told the group, "Well, it's been fun discussing everything from racist cults to conspiracy theorist internet trolls, but it's getting late, I have to get Sophie home."

I got off the chair, walked over to my Aunt Kimi, and waved goodbye and said "Thank you" to everyone.

Before we left, Kira approached me and said, "Sophie, you can come back whenever you like."

"Yeah, and when you're older, I'll even make you a mean cup of Joe," Betty said as she sneaked up on Kira.

"Thank you, I will," I responded calmly since I was still drugged.

The drive home was quiet for the first minutes, my Aunt Kimi and I began to talk about five minutes before we arrived at my house. I told her that I had a fun time at her office and at the Java Lava. Her Finster-Finster Shake was delicious and I had a good time with her family and the families of my parent's friends. Although, before we got out the car when we arrived to my home, my Aunt Kimi made me promise not to tell my parents, especially my mother, about Angelica, Kabadaian, Thump, or the Java Lava and those who I met there, to which I responded by pretending to zip a zipper on my lips, thus keeping them closed.


	8. The Forbidden Room

As I said before, I spent most of my young life locked away inside my house. Similar to the Dollanganger children who only got to see the small room on the north wing and the large attic, but not of the rest of the mansion until they escaped from their captivity, I got to know every little nook and cranny of the house, I could sketch a detailed drawing of every room in the house, except one room. I have spent numerous hours in each room except one room at the corner of the house. The door was always locked and even our parents never went in it. They even made sure to tell us to never go in there, but that didn't stop Bill.

I remember one morning I passed the door to the "Forbidden Room" and Bill was standing on a chair, trying to reach something.

I walked up to him and asked, "Bill, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to see what's inside this room."

"But Mommy said never to go in there."

"Don't be such a baby, plus, don't you want to see what's inside?"

"Yes, but we can't get in, it's locked."

"There might be a key on the...the...you know, the thing that goes around the door."

"Do you mean the door frame?"

"Yeah, calm down miss smarty pants. I can't reach the top of the door frame, I can hold you up and you can see if there is a key."

"I don't want to do that."

"Come on, you always chicken out of everything Jill. Just this once, break the rules."

"But, we need rules, and if Mommy and Daddy find out, we'll get in trouble."

"Just get on! Maybe there's a lot of stuff to play with, just like the attic in your flower book."

After Bill got me to participate with the possibility of the "Forbidden Room" being just like the attic at Foxworth Hall, I got on the chair next to Bill and began to climb his back. Bill held onto to the back of the chair while I stood on his shoulders, this gave me the ability to see what was on top of the door frame. To my amazement, there was a key on the door frame. It was an emergency key, you know, one of those skinny poles that look like the number seven and have two flat sides, making a point, at the end of it. I grabbed the key from the door frame, but I must have leaned back too much because I ended up falling off Bill's back.

When I landed on the floor, I hit my back against the wall, causing the air to get knocked out of me. I took deep breaths to regain my breath, but as soon as I began to breathe normally, I started to cry faintly. Bill got of the chair and rushed over to me.

"Shh, shh, shh, don't cry Jill. It's all going to be fine," he said as he had me in his arms while I was in fetal position, "Why don't we finally see what's inside?"

I held back the tears I had, inhaled the mucus coming out of my nose, and I wiped off the tears on my face with my arms while I said, "Okay, here's the key."

Bill took the key from my hand and put it in the keyhole, unlocking the door. The room was dark, and just like the Foxworth attic, it was incredibly dusty. Bill turned on the lights and we walked into the "Forbidden Room." It turned out that the room was a home office, an office that must have not been touched in years; I even sneezed a few times and got itchy eyes because of all of the dust in the room. Cardboard boxes lined the walls; I don't know what was inside of them because we were focused on a large file on the desk.

Bill and I walked over to the desk and brought the file down to the floor. We opened it and the first paper we saw had a picture of our home and some general information about it. I looked the paper a bit more and found the initials "WR" on a small line on the bottom right part of the page.

Bill pointed out the initials and asked, "What is 'WR' Jill?"

"I don't know; let's look at some more pages."

I continued looking through the pages, but all I saw was more legal information about the house and the initials "WR" on the bottom right of each page. I wondered what "WR" stood for, but before I could decipher the meaning, Bill and I were discovered by our mother. She came in, grabbed the file from the floor, closed it, put it back on the table, and pulled us out of the room. She found the key in the keyhole and locked the door before spanking my brother and me.

"We told you to never go into that room! We shouldn't even be here, you can't go around looking at other people's stuff," she said as she punished us.

Our mother then gave us "Time-out," she took us to opposite corners of the living room and left us there for an hour. Once the hour passed, our mother got us from our corners and sat us down on the couch, next to her.

She asked both of us, "Do you know why you were punished?"

"Because we went into the 'Forbidden Room,'" I said with my head held down.

"And, why? Tell me why I punished you," she responded.

"Because you and Daddy said never to go in there."

"But you two did anyway. I am very disappointed in you two."

I almost wanted to cry when my mother said I had disappointed her. I had never disappointed her.

Instead of crying, all I did was ask her, "Why? Why can't we go into that room?"

"Because, I don't want you to be touching everything inside."

"But why, is it not your stuff?"

My mother took a deep breath and put her left arm around us and said, "No, it's not my stuff, nor is it your father's stuff, it's the owners stuff."

"The owners," I said confused, "What do you mean?"

"Like your father and I have told you before, when we were eighteen, we did something that a lot of people don't like, everyone would have hated us, but we had each other. Everything was going smoothly until I found out you two were growing in my belly. We knew that if they found out, they would take you away from us, and who knows what they would have done to your father and I. We didn't want to lose you, so we ran away. Everyone but our friends think we no longer exist, they think we're dead. Why do we live in this house, then? Your father heard about this house, and we moved here after we ran away. To this day, I don't know who really owns the house. I suspect someone really rich because how can they not notice the bills. The water bill, the electric bill, the satellite bill, all of them, we pay none of them. That's why I don't want you going into that room, it's an office, and I don't want you touching their stuff. It's bad enough we have to live here, imagine if the owners came back one day and discovered us and found out we were going through all of their stuff. So please kids, just don't go in there again."

"Okay, we won't," my brother and I said before our mother got up, kissed us on the forehead, and walked away to prepare that day's homeschool lesson.


	9. Glasses and Apartment

As I've said before, I passed most of my time reading books, just like the Dollanganger children in the attic. I would spend hours on end reading, but I eventually noticed it became harder and harder for me to read. My father said that something was wrong with my eyes because I spent so much time reading, even though recent studies show that any reading-related work does not cause eye problems. My parents realized that I needed an eye exam, but who would take me? There was only one person my parents trusted to keep me safe, my Aunt Kimi.

Being the good person she is, my Aunt Kimi arranged an appointment for me at the Optometrist in mid-June. When the day of the appointment arrived, my Aunt Kimi picked me up around 9 AM and she drove for about thirty minutes until we reached the Optometrist's office. She had made an appointment a week ago so we didn't have to wait in the lobby for long.

After some preliminary test on the Tonometer, I went over to a room where I waited for the Optometrist to arrive. Once the Optometrist, a blonde woman wearing a red shirt, light magenta pants, red high heeled shoes, a golden necklace, and a white labcoat, conducted some following tests with the Slit Lamp, I had to read the letters on a mirror on the other side of the room through the lens of a Phoropter. I went through the lens in about ten minutes, and after that I got to select my own pair of glasses. I picked out a pair with a slim black frame, and I was told the glasses would be ready in two weeks. Right before we left, my Aunt Kimi paid the $400 bill out of pocket, $250 for the session and $150 for the glasses.

Two weeks later, my Aunt Kimi picked me up and drove back to the Optometrist's office. We waited in the reception area for about ten minutes until a receptionist called us to a desk where my glasses were waiting. I tried them on and had the adjusted because they were loose, but I could see clearly with them on. I also got a small black case to store my glasses and a white microfiber cloth to clean them when they got dirty. I wore my glasses and my Aunt Kimi placed the case and cloth in her purse.

We walked out of the Optometrist's office and down the street to my Aunt Kimi's car, but when she turned her head to look at me, she bumped into someone. I saw the person whom my Aunt Kimi bumped into, and all I could think was "Oh no, not you again!"

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attent...wait, it's you, never mind," my Aunt Kimi said as she realized who she bumped into.

"Oh, ha ha. I see that you are as clumsy as your brother," Angelica remarked.

My Aunt Kimi rolled her eyes and asked her, "Well Angelica, what are you doing here?"

"I'm going to interview two ex-cons to prepare for a business trip to Cleveland in July," Angelica replied.

My Aunt Kimi looked at Angelica quite confused and asked, "Why are you going to Cleveland? And since when did you get a job?"

"Well, remember when Kabadaian and I sent an e-mail to Thump? After that, I got a call from Thump congratulating me for my bravery in the face of a corrupt criminal justice system. I thanked him and told him I would like to become a part of his movement, and he offered me a job for his campaign in the Southern California region. Long story short, Kabadaian and I are going to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month and I get to give the speech introducing Thump. I'm already off to a good start, I have a lot of facts to talk about like how China rapes our country, no offence of course," Angelica said.

"None taken, mainly because I'm not Chinese," my Aunt Kimi replied.

While Angelica looked at my Aunt Kimi with a confused and an "are you kidding" look on her face, my Aunt Kimi asked, "If you're going to give a speech, why are you going to interview some ex-cons?"

"These guys, Bob and Mike, they were arrested for trying to kidnap one of Thump's sons but they got arrested. Oddly enough, they got arrested in Yucaipa, what are the odds? Anyway, they were released from prison a few years ago, and when they found out that Thump was running for president, they came out and told everyone not to vote for him. They recently said that they are going to vote for the Secretary in the fall. I'm going to use the information to craft a message exposing the truth, the truth that only criminals support the Secretary and want to undermine Thump. I'm also thinking about talking a bit about how it's the fault of people who share the Secretary's political views that create laws that let ex-cons vote because that's where they get there support, I guess," Angelica said.

"So, they're letting you speak during a major television event? Man, they must really be desperate for speakers," my Aunt Kimi commented.

"Kabadaian was right, everyone is just jealous of me," Angelica exclaimed as she walked away.

Once we got to my Aunt Kimi's car she told me that she was going to take me home but I pouted and told her that I didn't want to go back home. I day after day locked away in that house and I wasn't planning on going back so early. My Aunt Kimi said that she intended to rest for the remaining of the day, so she decided to take me to her apartment. Sure I was going to spend the rest of the day indoors, but at least it was in someone else's home.

We drove for thirty minutes until we reached the apartment complex where my Aunt Kimi lived. We took the elevator to the third floor, the floor she lived in, and then walked down the corridor to her apartment. Right as my Aunt Kimi was unlocking her apartment's door, a tall, muscular man about my Aunt Kimi's age with dirty blond hair and a light tan was opening the door to his apartment right across the corridor.

"Hey Kimi, looking good today," the tall man said as he opened his door and walked into his apartment.

"Thank you Rory," my Aunt Kimi said with a smile before we walked into her apartment.

Once we were inside my Aunt Kimi's apartment, her smile became a frustrated look. She told me that she was going to change out of her suit and that I could wait for her on the couch. Her apartment was not that big, but felt about right for one person, the side of the couch was only a few yards from the door. As I got to the couch, I saw that her coffee table was covered in papers, books, and other stuff, just a big mess.

"No, no, everything must be tidy, everything must be tidy," I kept repeating to myself as I organized the papers and everything else.

My Aunt Kimi came out of her room with her hair down and wearing a much less formal outfit consisting of shorts and a T-shirt, and asked, "Uh Jill, why are you moving my stuff?"

"It's messy, it needs to be tidy, it needs to be tidy," I replied without moving my eyes of my work.

My Aunt Kimi looked at me with a confused look on her face and asked, "Why does it have to be tidy?"

"I don't like the feeling I get when there's a mess. It goes all throughout my body and it doesn't feel good," I said as I finished cleaning up.

My Aunt Kimi sat down on the couch, grabbed me from the waist and sat me on the couch next to her.

I looked at my Aunt Kimi and asked her, "Your neighbor seems nice, does he like you? Do you like him?"

My Aunt Kimi thought up a response while she took a deep breath and then said, "Oh no Jill, sure Rory's good looking, but he's not right for me. I went out with him once and his idea of a date was a protest, and I'm still trying to be nice. Sure we live next door, but I don't like him, all he cares about is himself and his needs."

"Yeah, boys are stupid and yucky," I said.

My Aunt Kimi looked at me with a smile while she shook her head and brought me closer to her when she said, "Don't say that, because I know one day you are going to find a very special boy, you won't be able to get him out of your mind, and he will drive you crazy."

"Well, if you say so, but I don't know if my parents will ever let me get out," I asked in a sad tone.

My Aunt Kimi comforted me again and said, "You know when parents tell their children that they should be grateful for everything they've done for them, well, your parents have actually sacrificed a lot. I mean, they gave up their freedom, their youth, for you and your brother. But I'll say that I've known your parents for a long time and they keep you inside because they love you, but they can't keep you inside forever."

I got out of my Aunt Kimi's arms and asked her, "If you can go out, why don't you have a boyfriend?"

My Aunt Kimi took a deep breath and responded, "Well, I don't have a boyfriend because I haven't found someone I like. I'd like to find a nice guy, he doesn't even have to be that good looking, he can even be quite shy. Although, I don't think it's a good thing for me to date right now, I want to focus on my career. Don't worry, I still have much time to find a partner, trust me."

After a while my Aunt Kimi got off the couch and went into her room. She came out a few seconds later bearing a teal teddy bear.

She handed it to me and said, "I've wanted to give you this for quite a while. It's a Dummi Bear, it was mine from when I was a kid, and now I want you to have it."

"Thank you so much," I said before I questioned the appearance of the bear, "Wait, why is it covered in stitches?"

"When I was a kid I got so moody this one time that my friends thought they could cheer me up by remaking my room. They ended up destroying all of my stuff; they turned my stuffed animals into pillows. Luckily, my brother tore open those pillows and repaired some of my stuffed animals, just like this one. It's actually quite a funny story, you should get your parents to tell you the whole story, they know it better because they were there," my Aunt Kimi replied.

"Okay, I will," I told her since I definitely wanted to hear my parent's version of the story.

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking on the couch. My Aunt Kimi ordered a Pizza, since I usually ate whatever my father made with what his friends brought him; it was a rare event for me to eat something prepared by someone else. It was so rare that I ate it that this was the first time I could fully remember eating Pizza, even though I have had it in the past. We finished most of the Pizza, but I made sure to save three slices, one for each member of my family. My Aunt Kimi drove me back to my house and I got to show my family my new glasses along with giving them the Pizza slices as an extra piece for dinner.


	10. Angelica's Alphabet Soup Speech

Having to listen to the self-righteous give a long speech is another thing I have in common with the Dollanganger children. They had to listen to the Grandmother speak about the glory of God while she punished them for many things, but mostly just for their existence. I listened to Angelica's speech live from the convention center in Cleveland, Ohio. On July 21, 2016 all of my parent's friends came over, just so they could all watch Angelica's speech together. Surprisingly, Angelica's parents organized a viewing party for the speech, but Tommy and Dil's parents were too ashamed of what Angelica was doing that they weren't going to go and watch. Susie's family and my Aunt Kimi's family didn't agree with anything Thump said at all, thus they decided not to go as well.

My mother spent the whole day cleaning the mess on the first floor created by none other than my brother and father. She dusted, vacuumed, and mopped everything, and had everything clean by 6 PM, when the guests arrived. My mother was putting her cleaning supplies away when the doorbell rang. At first, she got a bit scared because she always feared the possibility of the owner returning to the house, but she soon remembered we were having guests.

Before she opened the door, she stood in front of the mirror and combed her oily, wavy brown hair with her hands. Once she cleaned herself, she went over to open the door and welcome our guests into our home. One by one, they all walked in, and since I was standing not that far behind my mother, they all picked me up and gave me a hug. My father greeted them after me since he was still in the kitchen preparing the chicken that they had bought for him to prepare for the viewing party.

Looking at some bags Tommy held, my father asked, "You guys brought the sides?"

"Yes Phil, did you wash your hands before, while, and after cooking? I don't want to remind you about last time," Tommy asked mockingly.

"That wasn't the last time by the way, I've been cooking for quite a while now," my father responded.

My father and Tommy walked over to the kitchen and placed the bags on the counter.

When Tommy pulled a small bottle or liquor from one of the bags, my father pointed out, "I don't think this is going to be enough for everyone."

"Oh no, it's not for everyone. Drinking is the only way I can ease the pain of Angelica bringing shame onto the Pickles name," Tommy explained.

Everyone talked for about an hour since Angelica's speech wouldn't start until 7 PM. The Chicken was done cooking at around 6:55 PM, and my father called everyone to come and serve themselves. We let everyone else serve themselves some of the Chicken and the sides that Tommy had brought over before my family served ourselves. My mother got a plate and served me some Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Corn. I took the plate and headed off to the living room where everyone else was. I noticed that there weren't that many spots for both my mother, brother and me, so my father picked me up and sat me on his lap. My mother came soon after and sat next to my father with my brother on her lap.

Once we were all set up in the living room, we watched the speaker before Angelica finish his speech.

A middle-aged brown haired white man exclaimed, "And that's why a woman's place is not in the office but in the kitchen, and I'm definitely not saying all of this misogynist stuff because I'm actually a closeted Homosexual who is cheating on his wife with his male college-aged interns. Now, if you'll excuse me, I won't be watching the next speaker because I have to head off to the men's restroom stall where I definitely won't be having anonymous gay sex!"

As the man walked off the stage a woman's voice on the PA came on and said, "That was Senator Every Conservative Politician of Red State. And now, ladies and gentlemen, from the sodomy-loving Socialist utopia of California, please give a warm welcome to Angelica Charlotte Pickles."

I Iooked on the screen and on the left side of the screen out came Angelica, wearing a white dress with her nicely done hair and makeup, from behind the stage. When she got to the stage, she didn't begin speaking immediately. She took up time absorbing the crowd's cheers, "Angie, Angie, Angie, Angie!" She gave off a fake smile and made other expressions with her face similar to Thump. Ultimately, she was trying to hide the truth, the fact that she was an egomaniac who was probably thinking to herself as the audience chanted her name, "Yeah, that's right, of course you know my name, who doesn't know my name?" The crowd eventually calmed down and let Angelica begin her speech.

She adjusted the microphone stand, leaned into the microphone and said, "I'd like to tell everyone to listen to every tenth word I'm about to say."

This request seemed a bit odd, it was an even odder way to start of a formal speech, but nobody questioned her.

Angelica stood up straight and made many hand gestures as she said, "It's an honor giving a speech at the RNC. Fill up the place! That's something I heard someone say, and they were right! It's hard to believe that a lil' girl can grow up to give this speech because I understand the hardships of living in a dictatorship. I know what it's like living under this terrible dictator, luckily you're all awaken to the truth now. The opposition is watching and conspiring against us, but they won't prevail, trust me!"

The living room was silent, no one here believed the lies Angelica was spewing. Tommy even began taking shots of liquor straight of his bottle.

"The world has become a dangerous place, but I know we can change the world if we vote for that man. Ronald Thump isn't a politician, he'll change everything. Your lives have been terrible for the last eight years. Time will soon tell how bad this president has been in everything he does. Thump will make sure we're not hiding when danger presents itself. It's only logical that Thump is the obvious choice for president. This president's term is nearing its end, and a new America is being born. It's pointless to resist the call to fight until the end," Angelica proclaimed as she pointed her right index finger upwards.

"Our nation's success depends on how we deal with the problems that the others bring with them. Today, the police can't even defend themselves from attacks, but President Thump will make sure they have the right to search and find the criminals that threaten us. Thump is the candidate you need to keep your family safe from all danger. And it's not just criminals, but foreigners who want what we have. Thump, a man with great knowledge in business will make sure no country fools us into bad deals. 'Take another country's jobs, China!' Thump's connections will make sure your job won't go away, meaning boys can eat. A girl doesn't need to eat, cause then the boys run away," Angelica claimed as the men and some of the women in the crowd cheered for her. Her hypocritical misogynist comments were received by the middle finger from all of the women in the living room watching her speech.

"Know that a Thump presidency will bring changes that can only come from a man who truly understands what we need. He knows we need jobs, a better economy, also, how about immigration laws? I'm tired of having to note down every crime foreigners commit in our country. Like, what has to happen for this president to do something? A Thump presidency will ensure that all these foreigners leave! Pussy, this president comes to mind, another person who can fill my list is that Lyin' Texas senator. Yeah, it is his fault the party is fractioned. Lyin' Texas Senator, if you keep dividing us, Thump will definitely teach you the true meaning of shame. You take money from corporations, only Thump personally funds his campaign. You're weak as a girl! Ladies and Gentlemen, Ronald Thump is the correct choice. He has proven himself to be a strong leader, he could and will stop China because he's the one to get rid of the other candidates. Another example of leadership was when he told us what people can come in. His true message needs to spread, tell your brother and sister," Angelica said as she spread her arms out at the crowd.

Right after Angelica finished her Schizophasia-induced speech, a group of young girls dressed in American flag costume dresses came out of the sides and prepared to sing a song.

Angelica leaned into the microphone and said, "First off, you don't have to count my words anymore. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the American Freedom Girls, featuring me!"

Angelica pulled the microphone off the microphone stand, jumped from the podium and rushed over to the line of girls preparing to sing. The music turned on and the girls began to dance.

"Weak leaders," the girls said as they began to sing.

Angelica jumped in and said, "Oh come on!"

"Having to say we did the wrong thing."

"What are we, Germany?"

"There's only one man who can save us."

"Come on, you all know his name."

"The greatest businessman."

"He's really rich!"

"Next president of this country."

"America!"

"Our enemies time has run out, no more incompetence."

"Get ready to get fucked up!"

"President Ronald Thump is making America terrific again! The greatest man we have the honor to vote for," both the girls and Angelica sang.

The girls and Angelica continued singing a song full of American and strongman clichés in a fashion that was reminiscent of North Korea or Ceaușescu's Romania. Eventually, the song came to an end. Angelica walked back to the podium and placed the microphone on the microphone stand as the final part of the music faded away.

As the girls left the stage, Angelica proudly proclaimed, "Ladies and Gentlemen, join me in welcoming the nominee, the winner, and the man who put me on the next season of 'Celebrity Protégé,' Ronald J. Thump!"

The audience broke into cheers as Thump came onto the stage. He appeared from the left side of the stage to music and met Angelica in between the passageway behind the stage he used to get on the stage and the podium. His hug looked more like a really odd caress as he rubbed his hands up and down her waist. Thump then made his way to the podium and seemed to do the exact same things that Angelica did in preparation for her speech. His speech primarily consisted of the idea that the world has gone insane and that the nation is in decline due to crime and loss of values. Unsurprisingly, Thump took time from giving his speech to make his followers take a pledge. His pledge involved having those pledging their allegiance to raise their right hand and to recite the pledge, "I do solemnly swear, that I, no matter how I feel, no matter what the conditions, if there are hurricanes or whatever, will vote on or before November 8th for Ronald J. Thump for President." Everyone in the living room loss interest in the convention because no one fell for the lies Thump was spewing. In fact, by the time 8 PM rolled by, I begged my parents for the remote in order to watch my favorite show.

I remembered Susie asking my parents what cartoon was on and I responded, "Not a cartoon, I'm going to watch 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' he's doing an RNC special this week. It's my favorite show."

As I sat back watching TV, my parent's friends reasoned that they were done for the day. They all went over to the kitchen, prepared a plate of food to take home and headed off.


	11. Dream, Vision, Hallucination?

We all dream, and we all have very vivid and rather eerie dreams, but what is the line that separates dreams from something else, and when do you cross that line? Cathy Dollanganger once dreamt about her dead father watching over her siblings and her from a "Garden in the sky." Although, this could be explained by her missing her father and the stress of living locked away in a small room. What I cannot explain is a dream, if you could call it that, I had one October night.

The night started off just like every other, our parents came to tuck Bill and me into our beds. 9 PM was our bedtime, and by 9:05 PM, our parents had turned off the lights. I was re-reading the newest Dollanganger book "Secret Brother" when bedtime struck; I figured that I would continue to read tomorrow. I closed my eyes, and after fifteen minutes of lying in bed, I fell asleep. The sleep was no different from any other time I had slept, but that soon changed.

I found myself in a hallway with a bright light at the end. The walls were covered in art, but I could not see what was on the wall because the only light was the one coming from the end. I decided to walk towards the light, but as I walked I began to hear voices. Some of these voices were unfamiliar to me. A girl's voice said, "He's like SI," another girl's voice said, "As in, socially inept." The first girl's voice came back again and said, "For twins, you guys are super different, in a good way," then a different voice, a boy's voice said, "In a really good way." I was nearing the end of the hallway when I heard new similar sounding voices, two child voices, both male and female, ask "What?" I couldn't recognize these voices, but those voices who spoke in unison felt familiar to me.

I had finally reached the point where I could see what was outside. I saw a man dressed in a military uniform standing next to a female figure on his right side, and two children, a boy and a girl, to his left. The man seemed to be giving a speech to a crowd, as the man made many movements on the balcony which he and his group stood, and gave a speech that elicited many cheers. I also couldn't recognize the man's voice as it sounded muffled, even though he was speaking into a microphone and he stood no more than three yards away, but I felt a connection to the voice.

I got closer to see if I could recognize the voice, or even see their faces, but as I got closer all I could see and hear were military planes flying by. What I heard next were whistling noises, as if something was falling out of the sky. Explosions followed a few seconds later, they were so powerful they rocked the earth. The people on the balcony lost their balance and fell to the floor. I lost my balance during the explosion-induced shake as well, and found myself lying on the rug. More and more explosions went off causing more shakes, and out of nowhere, the floor opened up and I fell into the hole.

I then found myself outside during the evening, laying on the ground and about a few yards from a pale skinned man with dark brown hair saying, "Get up Jill, get up." I got myself off the floor and started walking around when I was ambushed by the delusional man on the TV, Ronald Thump, wielding a sword he swung towards me. His surprise appearance caused me to step back and fall again. This time I found myself in a room that was pitch black. The only light was a spotlight hanging over some people that I immediately began to walk towards to. I soon realized that the people were my parents and my brother. They were in shackles and chains, they all looked scared, especially my brother, who hugged our parents. My parents, who were also very terrified, also held something small, wrapped around in a blanket in their arms.

As I got closer to them, a dark figure manifested from the darkness itself. The figure wore a long black robe with a hood, and it stared at my family. The figure then turned around and noticed me. The dark figure pulled a grey and black tube from its belt, and pressed a button causing a red laser to appear from the tube. The figure walked towards me, and I began to walk back, until I hit something. I turned around to find that on the opposite side of the room stood a man in a formal military uniform. I backed up in horror because he had a deep cut on his face. He had no eye on the left side, right from my perspective, just a wound that seemed to have never healed. He too pulled a tube from his belt; accept his was more banged up than the dark figure's tube. He pressed a button, causing another red laser to appear, along with two smaller red lasers that came out from each side. The figure stood there with his laser sword, and I knew that the dark figure could be behind me if I ran back to where I was before, so I ran to the right.

I ran as fast as I could until another figure came out of the darkness. Under another spotlight stood a tan skinned man in his 60's dressed like the Pope. He was not the same Pope that preached love and kindness, this man had the same power and charisma, but I felt that something wasn't right. The Pope figure pointed with his right hand towards an image of the city of San Francisco. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge and the city skyline, but it wasn't around for long because it all disappeared when an explosion occurred. A streak of light flew through the sky and landed in the middle of the city. Once the light hit the earth, a huge bright light blasted itself in my face, causing me to walk back and put my arm in front of my face. Once the light began to fade away, all that was left was what looked like a ball of fire in the sky that turned the sky orange. This ball created winds that shook everything in its presence, even I felt it. The ball of fire turned more into a mushroom shaped cloud. The mushroom cloud also became darker, probably because of all of the debris, as a second wave of light came out and destroyed everything in its way.

The sky became so dark that the image morphed into the blackness of the room and faded away. I turned around to see the Pope figure laughing, pointing at me. Was he responsible for the blast? And why did I feel responsible for this tragedy? I didn't feel responsible for the explosion because I made it happen, it is more like the feeling you get when something bad happens on your watch. I couldn't explain it. Out of nowhere, a mini-fridge on wheels with robotic arms and a human head on the refrigerator appeared out of nowhere and stood next to the Pope figure. The head mysteriously looked just like the Grandmother from the Flowers in the Attic film. The robot lady caught me looking at her; the Pope figure pulled something out of one of his pockets and gave it to the robot lady. What he gave her looked just like the tube that the deformed military man had. The robot lady pressed a button on the tube and ignited the laser sword and the two cross guards. Although, unlike the previous figures to possess a laser sword, she moved towards me and swung the sword directly at me.

Her swing caused me to trip again, this time I rolled out of the pitch black room and into what looked like the jungle late at night. What made the theory of the robot lady being the Grandmother from "Flowers in the Attic" more concrete was the fact that I heard the Grandmother scream "Devil's spawn" after I fell on the floor of the jungle. While I was lying on the dirt, I looked up and witnessed some sort of ritual. There was a fire and some tan skinned people, predominantly older men, wearing green camo uniforms dancing around a throne chair. In that throne chair sat a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked a bit physically mature, but it felt as if she was just a teenager. The girl seemed to be enjoying people honoring her; she felt as if this was what she deserved.

I got off the floor and began to walk away from the people, but then my attention was drawn to a portrait of a blonde girl who looked similar to the one sitting on the throne. I tried to get closer to the portrait, but I then found myself in a child's bedroom with the lights turned off. The only light that came in was moonlight that came through the windows, and in the place of the portrait now sat a little girl. This little girl had blonde pigtails with purple bows, an orange undershirt, and a purple dress. I got closer to her and saw her playing with a doll that had definitely seen better days. Even though the doll was a mess, the little girl still loved it. As I got closer to the girl who was facing the other direction, I heard her sing a song. The lyrics were, "Now my world is perfect. Now my world is perfect." Right before I could get in front of her, she sang a different verse, it went, "Who am I again, a princess or a..." She had sung the song in an angelic voice so far, but by the time I got to her, I discovered something horrific.

The little girl turned around, faced me, and screamed "Psychopath" in a dark, blood curdling, voice. She had no eyes, just empty, black eye sockets. Blood came out of her eye sockets and covered her torso and hands. She was then joined by three other hellish creatures. One was a red haired boy with glasses also covered in blood. The two other figures almost looked like aliens. One of the creatures looked like a baby, but he was completely grey, the other grey figure was covered in what looked like slimy blood. What was different about the second grey figure was that it had two identical heads. All four figures walked over to me, but they were stopped when a mirror formed in the ground. I looked at it to see my reflection, but that reflection soon turned into a deformed creature, crying out in pain, just like the figures. The mirror disappeared, and the figures continued their advance. The blonde girl got closer and jumped at me. Luckily, I woke up from my nightmare at that moment. Oddly enough, I also heard the voice of Christopher Dollanganger from the Flowers in the Attic film whisper a line from the film, "Everything will be all right," to me when I woke up.

My heart was pounding rapidly and my breathing was irregular, but I was thankful that I was finally safe, or so I thought. I sat up in my bed and looked at the foot of my bed. At the foot of my bed stood a dark figure wearing a robe and hood holding a gun with a dish-shaped parabolic antenna at the end directly at me. I couldn't see much because it was so dark, but it looked as if some grey apparatus was being worn around the mouth of the hooded figure. At this point, I had experienced enough that I couldn't deal with it anymore. I buried my head under my pillows, hid under the sheets, and screamed in my enclosure.

I heard some footsteps, I was afraid that the hooded figure would get me, but soon enough the footsteps stopped. About a minute later, I came out from under my pillows and sheets to find that the figure was gone. I turned on the lamp on the side of my bed and saw that the only other person in the room was Bill, sound asleep in his bed. The alarm clock said 5:17 AM, meaning that my dream that seemed like it was only a few minutes actually lasted for hours.

I feared that if I didn't document my experience now, I would soon forget it all. I moved over to my desk, turned on the desk lamp, and pulled out some paper, pencils, and crayons. For about the next two hours, I drew drawings of what I had seen in my dreams. I wasn't the best artist, but I would say that my art was sufficient enough that my drawings resembled what I had seen. I drew every single thing I had seen, from the hallway, the dark room, to the figure at the foot of my bed, I even wrote down what all the voices said in each picture where I heard the voices.

I was so tired by the time I was done drawing since I was awake since before sunrise that I fell asleep on my desk. I woke up around 11 AM to find myself alone in mine and Bill's room. His bed was made, mine was not. The door was open, I assumed Bill was downstairs. I got out of the chair and prepared to go downstairs, but I discovered that my drawings were gone. I then headed downstairs to see if anyone had seen my drawings.


	12. Mental State

I made my way down the hallway in order to get downstairs. As I walked through the hallway I passed my parent's room where they sat in their beds discussing something. I wanted to find out what they were talking about, but the door was wide open, meaning that if I continued walking they would probably see me. I made sure to stay close to the wall as to not get caught eavesdropping while I listened to the conversation.

"No, no, I think you're wrong," my father said arguing with my mother.

My mother responding by commenting, "Come on Phillip, you can't tell me you never thought there was something off with that girl."

"Well, that might be true, but you can't be serious."

"She's hearing voices, seeing things, Phillip! Look at the drawings!"

"Okay, but let's take a look at what she's hearing. 'He's SI,' does that not sound familiar?"

"Maybe she overheard us talking about it and her unconscious mind replayed it last night."

"Wait, now you're saying she was dreaming?"

"Fine Phil, maybe she was dreaming last night, but I'm just worried."

"What do you have to be worried about?"

"Okay, be honest, if Jill ever went out into the world by herself, do you think she would be able to survive?"

"I think she's smart enough to make it."

"Really, it's a miracle we don't have to keep her medicated."

It was at that moment that I became quite angry at my mother. How could she believe that I had mental health issues? I'm perfectly fine, right? Anyways, instead of heading downstairs, I turned around and returned to my room.

As I walked away from the door my parent's voices became much more faint, but I could still hear my mother yell, "Oh yeah, because what could possibly be wrong with her? What makes her so different? She's just like every other girl!"

I made my way back to my room where I jumped into my unmade bed. I lied there in fetal position and contemplated on what I had just overheard. About a minute passed before I heard someone else's footsteps approach my room. It was my father who had just left his room and wanted to check up on me.

He leaned in and asked, "Hey there, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I responded with half of my face buried in my pillow.

My father decided to lay down in bed to comfort me. He slid his left arm under me and used his right hand to pat my cheek.

"You know, I don't know if you heard all that, but your mom found your drawings," my father said.

"I know, I overheard," I replied.

"I want you to know that even though your mother might think there is something wrong with you, I think you're fine."

"But why does she think there's something wrong with me?"

"You're mother's just worried about you."

"It's not my fault that I couldn't speak until I was five, I get anxious around strangers, and I was seeing and hearing things."

"You're not helping your case, Jill."

"Not to mention my parents are..."

"Okay, I'm going to have to cut you off right there. We can have that discussion another time."

"Fine," I replied as a chuckled slightly.

I got off my side to sit up straight when my father said, "You know, some of the stuff in your drawing was pretty surprising, for me at least."

"Really? What was so surprising?"

"Well, all that stuff about 'socially inept' reminded me about my 5th grade...friend, yeah friend from 5th grade."

"Yeah, it was just a dream. I don't even know where I heard that before."

"It wasn't just that, there were a lot of weird stuff in those drawings."

"Well, it's still just a dream."

"You know Jill, it's okay for you to admit you don't know what's happening. If it makes you feel better, there was a time when I thought I was going crazy."

"What made you think you were going crazy?"

"I would say all of the unnatural feelings I got in my pre-teen and teen years were the indicators."

"It's great to know my origins stem in unnatural feelings."

"Ha ha, very cute," my father said before he leaned in and kissed my forehead.

My father got out of my bed and before he left my room he said, "Make your bed and come down for lunch. I'll even bring back your drawings."

I looked at my father and asked, "Did you take my drawings?"

"Oh no, that was your mom, you know how she is."

I chuckled a bit inside when my father made that sly comment about my mother. As I got off my bed and started making it, I heard my parents begin to argue again.

I heard my mother scream, "Phil, where are you taking those drawings?! Bring them back!"

My father came back into my room, laid down my drawings on my desk, and headed down the hallway. He was probably on his way downstairs, but he would most likely pass by my angry mother who would be outside their room, waiting for him.


	13. It Can't Happen Here

Just as my parents and their friends got together during the night of Angelica's RNC speech, they all came over to our house on Election night to watch the results together. For her "great" performance at the convention, Angelica, along with Kabadaian got invited to Thump campaign headquarters in New York City. The night started off with the goal of watching Angelica make a fool of herself again on international television, but that goal drifted away as the election diverted from what we all had expected. In a way, it was very similar to the Dollanganger children. Their sane, competent father died, leaving them under the control of their greedy, egomaniac mother.

"It's really close," Chuckie said referring to the count of electoral votes.

It was only seven o'clock but Thump had a surprising lead. Not just did he manage to keep a lot the historically Red states, he managed to stay competitive in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin; all three Blue-leaning states that the polls insured would be won by the Secretary. Thump was even winning in the state of Virginia early in the night, luckily the Secretary was able to secure it early.

Tommy leaned back in the couch and said, "I know, and I'm getting a bit worried. I haven't told you guys this, but my Grandpa Boris gave me a sterling warning before he died. I sat next to him while he lied in his death bed, we talked for hours but before I left he made sure to leave me with this piece of information. He rolled up his sleeve and pointed at a tattoo of a letter and numbers. Pointing at it he said, 'Tommy, I have lived long enough to notice similarities in different people. Thump reminds me of the man who ordered me to be branded like cattle. Just remember that if it happened once, it can happen again.'"

Susie, who was sitting in the adjacent chair added to the conversation by saying, "Wow, what a warning. Your grandpa would know Tommy."

Everyone but my Mother and my Aunt Kimi were in the living room, glued to the TV as results from all over the country came in. At around eight o'clock I heard a noise coming from the stairs. When I went to check what was going on I saw my mother and my Aunt Kimi coming down stairs. My mother was clearly upset, she had her hands on her face, capturing faint screams and tears. My Aunt Kimi stood behind her with a hopeless look on her face. She wanted to explain her side of the story but she clearly feared that my mother would respond with anger.

My mother hysterically asked, "How, how could you let this happen, Kimi? We trusted you with our safety."

"Lil, I'm sorry, it's all the Chief's fault. Kabadaian is going to start the investigation once he returns from New York," Kimi responded in an attempt to rationalize what was going on.

"Kimi, what can we do? We already spend all of our time inside."

"Look, the stake-out will be from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon. I just need you guys not to go outside or make much noise during that time. Don't turn on the lights, close the blinds, and stay away from the windows."

"God, those are so many restrictions. Don't you know how bad it is for us already?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Listen, I'll try to interfere with the investigation and make sure they don't find anything. You just have to be patient, trust me."

My mother broke down and my Aunt Kimi quickly embraced her. Tears from my mother's eyes made their way onto my Aunt Kimi's blouse while my Aunt Kimi patted my mother's back. They both sat down on the stairs, my Aunt Kimi had her arm around my mother's shoulders, comforting her as the final tears left her eyes.

As my mother inhaled the mucus back into her nose, she rhetorically asked, "How could they have someone found out?"

"It was Angelica, I heard her talking about you and Phil," my Aunt Kimi said in a hopeless tone.

"Now I'm wondering how she found out?"

"She probably put the pieces together when she saw Jill in my office."

As soon as my Aunt Kimi realized what she had said her face turned red and she put her hand over her open mouth, but it was too late. My mother looked at her with her mouth wide open as well, the only difference was that she was trembling in confusion and anger.

My mother got up off the stair, looked down at my Aunt Kimi, and angrily screamed, "Angelica saw Jill! I trusted you with her, you said she would be safe with you!"

"I didn't know that Angelica would get arrested, well, I didn't know she would go into my office that day, I'm so sorry," my Aunt Kimi said as she pleaded for forgiveness.

"My life, the future of my family, everything is turning upside down, and you let it happen!"

"Okay Lil, let's be fair, I didn't mean to do any of this."

"That's it Kimi, get out of here! You doomed my family! Go!"

Right after my mother told my Aunt Kimi off, both of them ran in different directions, crying. My mother ran up the stairs while my Aunt Kimi sobbed as she left the house and drove off. Chuckie realized that his sister was in pain and that she could hurt herself or others since she was driving in her condition. He got off the couch and drove off, following her. My father followed Chuckie's move and went upstairs to go check up on my mother. They stayed up there for the rest of the night, never to return to the living room.

My brother got bored of watching the results come in and decided that he would rather be in our room. Eventually it was just Tommy, Dill, Susie and I in the living room. It felt weird and inappropriate for them to be in a house not their own while the "owners" were up in their room, especially considering what had just happened, meaning they decided they should leave as well.

As they got up and said a quick "goodbye," I called out, "Please, don't go. Everyone else has left and I don't want to be all alone."

The three of them simultaneously looked at each other, took a deep breath, and returned to the living room. All four of us sat on the couch, with Susie on my left and Tommy and Dil on my right. We stayed there for a few more hours until the final results came in. Tommy even told me stories of my infancy he remembered.

"I remember when you and Bill were babies your parents used to sit you two down in a playpen in the corner. Bill would play with a Ball or something, you know, moving around a lot. And you, well, you would just sit down and study whatever toy you had in front of you. Don't even get me started about what would happen if someone touched you without washing their hands, you would just break down. It was more screams than tears that I could tell you. Or when Bill would take off the pink bow on your head and put it on his head to make everyone believe he was you. Although, I mean the bow wasn't the only thing differentiating you two, like Bill wore blue shoes, you wore pink ones, and he wore shorts and you didn't. It really makes you think that your parents weren't that great at telling you apart," Tommy said.

I responded, "Yeah, I'd believe that."

Since the race was so tight the news kept reporting on the same things. They kept going over Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire that we got bored and eventually fell asleep on the couch together. In that sleep I dreamt that the Secretary had managed to turn around Pennsylvania and Michigan, unfortunately I was awoken by a force, a cold chill that surrounded me. I swear I could have heard a deep, dark voice call out, "Wake up." I was still half asleep when I woke up around 11:45 PM, but I could see Susie curled up in a ball to the left of me, and Tommy, with his head on the back of the couch with his wide-open mouth facing upwards, and Dil, asleep on Tommy's lap, to my right.

I turned my attention to the TV where the news anchor said with a hint of anxiety, "We can now make a projection. According to the recent trends, we predict that Ronald J. Thump will be the next President of the United States."

When a graphic with Thump's face with the words "Projected Winner, Ronald J. Thump" came on the screen, Tommy, Dil, and Susie all woke up. I don't know what woke them up, maybe it was the large amount of Orange light from his ridiculous spray tan that came from the TV screen that woke them up. Once they all realized that Thump had been declared the winner, Tommy got the remote from the coffee table and began to check out other news networks. Each network declared him the winner, even the International news networks, which Susie was so keen on checking out, reported the same thing. The anchors from the British, French, and Qatari networks all seemed to be in utter shock, while the Chinese anchors had, dare I say, evil grins on their faces as they reported the news.

About five minutes later, the news networks began to pick up Thump's victory speech live from his campaign headquarters. Thump, his family, his running mate and his family, a group of advisers including Angelica and Kabadaian, and the Republican National Committee chairman made their way to the stage. It was three in the morning in New York and Angelica had a disposable coffee cup in her hand she drank from in order to stay awake. Once she finished drinking the last of her coffee, she crushed the cup in her hands, threw it into the crowd and began to act aggressively with someone in the crowd, most likely the person who was hit by the crushed cup. She spread her arms apart, stuck out her chest, and kept leaning towards the person in the crowd as she kept asking the person "Whatcha go'n do? Whatcha go'n do?" Kabadaian pulled Angelica away from the confrontation and managed to calm her down.

The RNC chairman was the first to approach the podium and introduce Thump as "the next President of the United States." As Thump took to the podium to give his speech his family that were standing to the left of him, right on the TV screen, were pushed out of the main camera shot by Angelica.

As she made her way next to Thump by pushing the rest of the Thump family out of the way, she kept her bent hands up as she said, "Out of my way, Angelica is walking."

Thump continued to give his speech that was obviously written by a speechwriter as it lacked the characteristics of an authentic Thump speech. As Thump gave his speech, Angelica had a look on her face indicating she was thinking about what the future had in store for her. Similar to Angelica, Kabadaian had a look that indicated he knew exactly what the future had in store for him, the "stake-out." Susie had her hand over her mouth as she came to the realization that Thump would be the next President, Dil was wondering how aliens could have played a role, but Tommy made a chilling comment.

He didn't take his eyes off the TV screen, but he whispered the words his grandfather told him, "If it happened once, it can happen again."

Those words made me think of the Sinclair Lewis novel where a Populist politician rises to power by promising to return greatness to the country. Once he becomes President, the politician erodes the rights of the people and creates a totalitarian state similar to Nazi Germany.

Everyone, including myself, was glued to the TV when I whispered the name of that Lewis novel in a worried and nervous tone, "It can't happen here."


	14. Final Joy

There are dates that change our lives forever. For the Dollanganger children, April 26, 1957 was the date everything changed as it marked the death of their father and set up the events that led to their imprisonment and torment in the attic of Foxworth Hall. For my family, November 9, 2016 was the date that changed our lives. That was the day Thump declared himself President, dismissing all of the claims of a rigged election he had made during the campaign. He let his ego grow and grow by holding a "Thank You" tour, something rare in the west. The only comparison would have to be the Nuremberg Rallies.

There was hope that the Electoral College would do one of the things it was created for, keep an unqualified person out of office, but they did not. December 19th rolled along and Thump had officially been elected President. What makes me even angrier at this injustice was that the Secretary won the popular vote with nearly three million more votes than Thump, one of the biggest margins in American history.

Even though trouble lay ahead, my brother, and especially my parents, put it off for as long as they could. My brother had the excuse of being a kid, but my parents had bigger problems to attend to. Just like my Aunt Kimi said, Kabadaian began his "stake-out" the day he got back from New York City, November 9th. Tommy, Dil, and Susie made sure to leave before nine in the morning as that was when the "stake-out" began.

I made sure to go around the house and close all the blinds and turn off all the lights before anyone else woke up. I went to my and Bill's room to tell him not to turn on lights in rooms close to windows, open the blinds, or get close to the windows. He grunted since I woke him up from his sleep but he did listen to my commands. I then went over to my parent's room where they too were asleep. My father was sleeping on his back while my mother slept on her right side with her head and left arm rested on my father's chest. I stood there staring at both of them until my mother woke up and asked what I was doing. I told her what I had told Bill and repeated the precautions my Aunt Kimi had laid out the night before.

The "stake-outs" happened every day and we had to adjust to them. We brought the TVs to the floor and we kept the volume low, and crawled on our knees and hands if we passed a window to not reveal our presence. Our family stayed together to make sure neither one of us would reveal ourselves by being clumsy. We hid in different rooms in the back of the house to stay away from those observing us, but we always feared someone watching us from the sky with a drone or something. We all now experienced the anxiety of getting caught that only my mother used to experience.

Christmas wasn't the same that year. My Aunt Kimi didn't come back after fighting with my mother on Election Night, and I knew we were heading down a dark road with the change that would begin in a few weeks. Without my Aunt Kimi's help, Bill and I only received one gift for Christmas. My father had baked Christmas cookies the night of Christmas Eve, after the "stake-out" ended for that day. He had baked plates of chocolate chip, sugar, and gingerbread cookies. We ate all of them with milk and egg nog on Christmas day since no one came over in the morning, fearing to be caught during the "stake-out." All of my parent's friends except my Aunt Kimi came over that night to celebrate, even if it was only for a short while.


	15. Fall Of Libertas

Inauguration Day came and the Age of Thump officially began. We all boycotted the Inauguration, not tuning into the news to watch it. January 20th passed like every other day we spent in out prison, but little did we know that the worst was yet to come. The following morning we turned on the TV to see the capitol in chaos. Every news network was covering the events that were unraveling.

A reporter on the ground spoke into his microphone, as the cameraman tried to capture as much as he could, and said, "I am here in Washington DC where Secretary of Defense Michael Kabadaian has just arrested all five hundred and thirty-five members of Congress, along with all the aides present. One day after the Senate confirmed him for the role. President Thump has just suspended civil liberties and martial law has been declared across the country."

My entire family looked surprised at the images on TV of the congressmen chained up in groups, being loaded onto trailers like cattle headed off to the slaughterhouse, but I wasn't. I knew the day Thump would take complete control would one day come; I just didn't expect it to come so soon.

Back on the news, the reporter said, "It appears that Secretary Kabadaian has also arrested the Supreme Court Justices, effectively eliminated two of the three branches of government."

The news cut from the on-field reporter to an anxious anchor in the studio, where she read from a tablet, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just received word that the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury have been arrested as well."

The feed changed from Capitol Hill to the White House where the Vice President was brought out in handcuffs and placed in the back of a vehicle. As I watched most of the government disappear, I quickly realized something. Kabadaian had arrested all of Congress, the Supreme Court Justices, the Vice President, and the Secretaries of State and of the Treasury. Following the presidential line of succession, the Secretary of Defense was now the next in line for the presidency. Something in me made me believe that Kabadaian would arrest Thump, but the day moved on and nothing happened to him. At that point it was obvious that Thump had gotten rid of all the obstacles in his way and Kabadaian had set everything up to make him the second most powerful man in the county.

If things could not get any worse, the armed men that accompanied Kabadaian during his purge began to shoot at protesters participating in the _Women's March on Washington_. The group had organized months in advance, and now most of them lay on the streets, gunned down like animals. The violence began to spread to other parts of the country as various state capitals reported their legislative buildings being overrun like in DC. The news stations faced a similar fate as groups of Thump supporters overran the news station by force during their reporting of the events.

The people who overran the stations began chanting many outlandish things at the camera, such as, "Down with Jew-SA! You Jews don't control the media no more! Lügenpresse!"

You could hear the hijackers chanting Anti-semitic slurs until the news feed was cut. We changed the channel to other national news network available, until they too were overrun and shut down. We eventually had to rely on international news networks to get updates. Even though the American studio had been overrun, the British studio got bits and pieces into the country.

I remember one of those bits where the anchor, a clean-cut British gentleman, live from London reported, "I have just been informed that our broadcast is currently available inside the United States. We do not know for how much longer as our signal is constantly being blocked. We do not have any incoming images from the ground, but we can show you these photos and videos posted online."

The images were of buildings across the country engulfed in flames; it seemed that the Anti-establishment sentiment lingered on after the election. The feed was eventually cut again and we did not receive any updates for a while. Eventually the feed came back on all the networks, with the only thing we saw was a standby view of the Capitol building. Each network had a different lower third on screen saying something along the lines of "Awaiting President Thump and Secretary Kabadaian's speech." There were rolls of red fabric on the walls behind the podium, the place where the American flags from throughout the ages would have been found the day before. The crowd was full of the armed men that aided Kabadaian in his purge and other Thump supporters who made their way to DC to watch Thump speak all lined up in formation. Eventually, both Thump and Kabadaian came out and made their way to the podium.

Kabadaian walked up to the podium and said to the entire world, "Today marks the end of a nation. A weak and foolish nation that limited itself from reaching its full potential. We allowed Political Correctness to restrain our expressions, and our inability to attack first led to us being attacked first. The old nation is dead, but today marks a rebirth. President Thump, if you will."

Thump approached the podium and replaced Kabadaian's elegance with his third grade-level speech and preposterous hand gestures, saying, "Let's thank Secretary Kabadaian for getting rid of all these bad guys. I mean they were just terrible people, am I right? He came to me last night and told me, 'Ronald, you're a terrific guy, but Congress wants to impeach you.' You know how corrupt Congress is; they didn't want me to be president. Even though you, the people, said you did, and in very huge numbers, believe me. Luckily, he said, 'Don't worry, I have a plan to stop it and to get rid of these looser politicians who don't know everything.' Well, he did it, look at how terrific things are, they're all gone. Now that they're gone, we can really start making America terrific again.

The crowd broke into cheers as Thump moved to the side of the podium and Kabadaian returned saying, "Now my Deplorables, show your true colors! Salute!"

The camera backed up to show the crowd of supporters, bringing their right arms to their chest and sticking them out towards Thump and Kabadaian repeatedly as they chanted in unison, "Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!"

Thump stood watching his supporters and he gave him two thumbs up with his trademark look on his face making him appear as if he had just eaten something sour.

With a remote he pulled out from the pocket of his overcoat in his right hand, Kabadaian passionately screamed, "Welcome to the United States of Thump!"

He clicked the remote and unveiled what the rolls of red fabric were. The new flag of the nation came rolling down, a red flag with a white circle in the middle. Inside the circle was the name "Thump" written four times in a way to make it look like a square on an angle. The "T" was much larger than the rest of the letters, as the "hump" part of his name was as big as the horizontal line on the letter "T." It was evident that if you looked at the white in between the square made by the name "Thump," you could see what looked like a Swastika.

We had seen too much already to not be able to deny what was happening in front of our eyes. All four of us witnessed the death of democracy, an experiment almost two and a half centuries old. Turned to ash by paranoid men who feared changed, and brought to fruition by men hungry for power.


	16. Actions Of A Vollidiot

Once all the opposition was eliminated, Thump was allowed to whatever he desired. Thanks to the Deplorables, the armed men that accompanied Kabadaian during his purge, Thump was able to take control of all the nation's television networks. Nothing aired for the rest of the month of January, and by February, all we were left was two channels. The _Thump Entertainment Network_ aired old shows that were heavily scrutinized before airing. Old shows had to go through various tests to make sure they passed the standards laid out by Thump. The show could not promote "unpatriotic" ideas, and could not star or be worked on in any way by anyone who had ever criticized Thump before.

Any new show had to go through a similar process and had to be approved by Thump himself. The most popular show, or at least it seemed to be the most popular, was the television program _Celebrity Protégé_ , starring Ronald Thump himself. Even though he was president, he didn't care much for the work and would rather host the reality show, which Angelica ended up winning. The only reason we watched it was because my parents wanted to watch one of the contestants, a former soccer player named Nils Stanton.

There was only one other network that had a more devastating effect on the national psyche than _TEN_ did. The _Thump News Network_ was the only legal way of getting news, not that it was accurate. _TNN_ was nothing but a twenty-four/seven propaganda churner, virtually all it aired was footage of what Thump was up to that day. Sometimes he was touring a factory, other times he visited the US-Mexico border, but mostly the network aired clearly fabricated reports on Thump's life. All the anchors were beautiful Blonde women with figures impossible for the average woman to obtain. _TNN_ made life outside our home feel normal, as it was before. It wasn't until Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, or Susie came over and showed us footage of what life was really like. The footage was always very similar, a group of protesters assembled in a public space, but they were violently put down by the Deplorables.

The only real news that _TNN_ ever reported was the signing of the most destructive deal in the history of the nation. Thump kept his word from the campaign and terminated the nation's membership in NATO. He most likely did this after he took his orders from his puppet master in Russia. The problem was that without American troops scattered around, the world would most likely go down the same path we did. In order to stop this from happening, Thump negotiated with various world leaders to create a new military alliance for America's former interests abroad. In the manner of Thump, he ended up negotiating a deal that endangered our former allies.

He invited the leaders of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea to Washington DC to sign a deal that would allow him to retract all American troops overseas and keep the world in one piece. Thump came in promising that he would negotiate the best deal, as he always says. The thing is, Thump is not a great businessman, nor a great negotiator. The only reason he was able to make his business so big was by violating the law and taking advantage of everyone he could. It must have also helped the other parties that he was starstruck by them. The other men were ruthless kings in their own countries. Their word was the only one that mattered, and all those who disagreed were terminated. In short, those men were what Thump always desired to be.

At that event, Thump gave another one of his hilariously unbearable speeches accompanied with his mannerisms, he said, "So, today we are signing this deal, this magnificent deal that I created, that will return our troops home. I mean, it's really terrific. In their place, the armies of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea will keep the world from blowing up. Our troops will be pulled out of Germany, Japan, Kuwait, all of them. Sure, they are great places, I love Germany, I love Japan, but they gotta pay. We protected them, and we got nothing out of it. And then these good gentlemen offered to do our work, so, why not. Believe me, we are going to be saving so much money."

The document was brought out to be signed by someone who I can still not accept was, thanks to Kabadaian's Purge, second in line to assume the office of President if both Thump and Kabadaian were unable to, Attorney General Angelica Pickles. Susie told me that she remembered Angelica telling her she would like to be Attorney General in Middle School after defeating a rival school when she was on the debate team. It only made sense that Thump would reward her for her loyalty and give her the position, even though she was the most unqualified member of his cabinet. That is saying a lot since most of Thump's cabinet members were unqualified for their jobs. Also, since Attorney General is below Secretary of Defense in the presidential line of succession, and since Kabadaian could trust Angelica, she was not eliminated during the purge.

She laid down the document and took out one of Thump's gold pens from the breast pocket of her pantsuit for him to sign it. Once all of the leaders had gotten to sign it, the five of them grabbed one hand of two of the other leaders so as to appear unified for the ceremonial photograph. Once the photo was taken I could see the leaders of Russia and North Korea get closer to each other. The Russian President whispered into the ear of the Supreme Leader of North Korea, "Er ist ein Vollidiot." The President of Russia was speaking German, a language that both leaders, but not Thump, spoke. What he said roughly translates to "He is a complete idiot." "Ja," replied the North Korean Supreme Leader, saying "Yes" in German. Never in my life did I believe I would agree with such despicable men.


	17. Deterioration Of Rights

Nothing Thump did surprised us anymore. If it wasn't for Kabadaian's Purge, he wouldn't be able to do everything he wanted to do. Now that he was the sole leader, brought the world's second largest army back home with no missions, and effectively created a police state, he was finally ready to initiate one of his most popular promises from the campaign. On Monday, March 27, 2017, sometime between midnight to dawn, the first deportations occurred.

It was three in the morning when I was awakened by the sound of helicopters and vehicles passing by. I got out of bed and stretched with the sounds of screams in the background. The blinds of my windows were closed for months because of the "stake-out," but I had to know what was happening outside. I went to the right side of the window and lifted the blind as bit as possible to see what was happening outside but not enough to get caught by someone outside. There was nothing outside on the street, no people or vehicles. Since I saw no danger outside, I let go of the blind and went over to the middle of the window to get a better view.

I pushed both blinds to the sides and I looked straight out to the street. For a while there was nothing outside and I had gotten bored and tired of looking outside, but then I saw someone's shadow pass on the street. It turned out that the shadow belonged to a little girl no more than five years old. She had long dark hair, a round head, and dark skin, and was wearing her pajamas. She stopped in front of our home to catch her breath, as it appeared she was running away from the Deportation Force.

She looked up from the road and began to look at our house. She skimmed through the front wall until she came to the window of my and Bill's room. Our eyes locked, I knew she was there and she knew I was here. The fear in her eyes left her when she looked at me, but that soon came to an end. Since she had stopped running, she gave the Deportation Force a chance to catch up. While I stared at the little girl, I heard a gunshot nearby. The little girl was fine one second, and the next second she lied on the road with blood rushing out of her skull.

I was taken aback by the scene; I put my hands over my mouth as I walked back in shock. Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground and someone else's hands came over my mouth. That person was Bill; he must have been awakened by the gunshot since he was breathing heavily for acting so fast.

He presses his hands over my mouth and kept repeating, "Don't cry, don't cry. You opened the window after you told everyone not to."

I kept struggling but Bill was stronger than me, I couldn't get up. Soon after, a light came in through the window, most likely from the flashlight of one of the Deportation Force agents outside. The light eventually went away and by then I had given up on trying to get out of Bill's hold on me. I signaled to Bill that I was going to check out what was going on outside and he agreed to accompany me. Both of us crawled to the window and slowly peered over the window sill. The light was still on, but it was pointed at the lifeless body of the little girl. There were two Deportation Force agents dressed in black riot gear looking down at the girl. Since they were busy looking at their victim, I took the opportunity to close the blinds.

Bill and I returned to our beds as we heard one of the agents cheer in a backwoods accent, "Fuck yeah, we got the beaner!"

Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, and Susie came over the following evening. They said that the deportations were much worse than imagined. They weren't just rounding up everyone without the proper documentation to be in this country. The Deportation Force had orders straight from Thump to deport anyone who was "not American," i.e. anyone who is not White, or at least doesn't look White. Tommy told us he witnessed a Filipino family dragged out of their home.

"You should have seen the fear and frustration on one of them as he screamed 'We're not Mexican! We're Filipino! Not Mexican!' Poor guy didn't know Deplorables can't tell the difference between Mexicans and Filipinos."

They couldn't stay too late since everyone but Chuckie would risk imprisonment or worse if they were caught "wandering" outside without permission. Under Thump, anyone who wasn't a Straight, Cisgendered, White, Christian Male had restrictions imposed on them. Tommy, Dil, and Susie showed us the white armbands they had to wear over their sleeves at all times. Susie's had a brown circle with the number six written under it. I asked her what the markings meant and she handed me a government-issued booklet containing the names of all the markings and a quote by Thump elaborating on the group meant to wear that specific marking.

According to the booklet, Susie's marking was called "My African American," and the quote said, "Look how much African American communities have suffered under someone else's control. To those I say the following, 'What do you have to lose by trying something new like Thump? What do you have to lose?' I say it again, 'What do you have to lose? Look, what do you have to lose?' You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed. 'What the hell do you have to lose?' And at the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get the support of over ninety-five percent of African Americans. I promise you."

After reading the quote for the brown circle, I asked Susie what the number meant, to which she replied, "Every woman, regardless of race, religion, or other factors, must wear a band with a number ranking us from one to ten. The ranking is supposed to reflect how attractive we are. Apparently, I am a six, and this means I can't drive, eat in public, or accuse someone of sexual harassment. Every month, every woman must go to be evaluated by the 'Fat-Shaming Commission.' Although, ironically, the evaluators are all fat, old, White men. Anyways, we have to strip down naked and let the evaluators do what they have to do to reach a consensus. I've only been touched, but I've heard stories of worse things happening to women than being inappropriately touched."

Tommy saw the pain within Susie and started to talk to me about his and Dil's armband. It featured a green Star of David, similar to the original armbands that inspired all of these.

I told him that it was the Star of David, to which he replied sarcastically, "Not at all, the booklet says it's called 'The Sheriff's star.'"

Tommy took the booklet and found the page on "The Sheriff's star," which was accompanied by a quote that said, "This is a Sheriff's star, not the Star of David, and anyone claiming this is Anti-semitic is lying. Those false claims were started by the Crooked Secretary who was trying to divert attention from her and her husband's dishonest behavior. The real question is 'Where are the thirty-three thousand missing e-mails?' So many lies. By the way, I'm a negotiator, like you folks who wear this marking. I would say about ninety-nine point nine, is there anyone in this group that doesn't negotiate deals? This group negotiates deals. Perhaps more than any other group I have addressed. You folks need to support me because you know I will be the best thing to happen to Israel, and I'll be that. But know that I don't want your money."

I put the booklet down and asked a question I wanted an answer to, "What about my Aunt Kimi? What does she wear? "

"She wears a band with a yellow oval slanted on its side, and she is ranked a seven," Tommy said remembering.

Susie found my Aunt Kimi's marking in the booklet, it was titled "'Gyna," and it said, "'Gyna is a huge threat to this country. 'Gyna is beating us in trade; they're taking away jobs from great American hands. By the way, I'm not saying I don't like 'Gyna. I like 'Gyna. I've gotten much pleasure out of 'Gyna. I sold an apartment for fifteen million dollars to somebody from 'Gyna. Am I supposed to dislike them? People say I don't like 'Gyna. No, I love them, but their leaders were much smarter than our former leaders."

My father chuckled as I read from the booklet, but when everyone looked at him with serious looks on their faces he stopped and replied, "Sorry. And, don't they know she's Japanese?"

"It doesn't matter, they're all 'Gyna in Thump's eyes," Tommy replied as he and the rest of my parent's friends got up, said goodbye, and left for home.


	18. The Last Straw

It is virtually impossible for me to explain how people can believe that a man who declared bankruptcy multiple times could handle the economy better than a de facto cabinet member of the last president to give us a surplus, twice in a row if I made add. The only logical explanation would be is that people are, for the lack of a better word, stupid. Now, I don't want to sound arrogant, especially since nearly three million more Americans side with me. But, I have to say this since there are over sixty million people who believe a man who bankrupted a casino would be the best person to handle the economy.

I remember the hit the Stock Market took the morning after the election, but that was a dip in the water compared to what happened next. My parent's friends brought some information with them a few days after Kabadaian's Purge about the state of the nation. In short, the Dollar was virtually worthless. I remember the first overseas trip the new administration took. _TNN_ covered Thump, Kabadaian, and Angelica's trip to China for three straight days. The media portrayed the event as if the legendary negotiating businessman Ronald Thump went to China and got a great deal, when in reality he was taken advantage of, just like he always spoke about the former leaders. He begged the Chinese for a bailout and ended up giving them an aircraft carrier for half of what he asked for.

If you believe that Thump would put the money to good use you would be wrong. He used some of that money to purchase fifty-foot golden letters that spell the name "Thump." He had the letters mounted on the roof of the White House to match his ridiculous hotels and buildings. He decided to take the White House remodeling to a new level when he used some more of the money to plate the building in gold. The rest of the money went to various government projects that Thump wanted completed. The Neokosmos Space Station should have been completed by March 2017, but it was delayed six months because of the economic hardships. And of course, the Thump Freedom Wall ate away at the little money we had. The wall was not as magnificent as Thump had promised, and even the name of the wall was an insult to every person who loves freedom. The "Freedom" Wall, its function was to keep anyone from the outside from coming in and everyone on the inside from getting out.

Another reckless thing the man did was eliminate all regulations on businesses, allowing them to pollute the environment. He promised this would bring jobs back to the country, but it did not. Another one of his many promises went down the drain when he removed all regulations. All it did was make the corporations more money, but for some reason, Thump still had much support. Let's connect everything that he has done to this point; Thump has deported millions, drained the economy, and polluted the nations. Without those field workers, tons and tons of crops rotted away since there were hardly any people to harvest them. The industrial pollution poisoned the water and the farmland, thus severely weakening Agriculture throughout the country. When you combine a weak economy and a lack of food you get high food prices. Just like when Bill and I were babies, my parent's friends could only buy so much food for us. The only difference now is that Bill and I need more than breast milk or formula to survive.

My parent's friends brought over a box of canned food and bug traps every two weeks. Our parents fed Bill and me the canned food while they sat back and watched us eat. I didn't see them eat until one night. I couldn't sleep one night so I went to find my parents but I took precautions before entering opening the door to their room this time. They were not in their room so I decided to check downstairs. They were in the kitchen eating from a plate. I wanted to know what they were eating, so I walked up to them. They asked why I was awake and I told them I couldn't sleep and asked if I could stay with them for a while. They agreed and my father sat me on his lap as he sat on a stool. In the middle of the kitchen island was a plate of bugs and worms. I now knew what the bug traps were for; my parents used them to gather food for themselves.

"Who knew what was once a luxury would one day be a necessity to live? But they sure taste different, not like when we were kids," my father said.

My mother just nodded in response as she looked at her dinner with a confused look. It was almost as if she was debating whether or not to continue eating the bugs. On the side, she should have given up eating bugs years ago as she was now a grown woman in a first world nation, or at least one that was once one. On the other side, not just was she hungry and bugs were the only thing available, eating bugs and worms brought back all of the joys of her toddler days. Then again, that is just how I interpreted her look.

My parents persevered through these harsh economic times. In some weird way, the suffering they endured during the Great Recession hardened them for tragedy that was Thump's economy. They went through many hardships and made many tough decisions, but no choice was as hard as the one they made one April night.

The event for me started when I was awakened by the sound of something falling down the stairs. I went to see what heavy object fell down the stairs but what I found was my mother lying at the foot of the staircase, whimpering in pain. My father sat beside her, comforting her as if this was just part of some routine.

I didn't know what was going on, but I cried out, "Mommy!"

My father heard my cry and exclaimed while brushing me away with his hand, "Jill, Mommy's fine! Go to bed! Go to bed Jill! Mommy's fine!"

Before I headed up to my room I looked at my mother's face, it was the face of a woman trying to show strength in front of her daughter even though she was clearly in pain. I went back to my room and got in my bed but I found myself listening to the same sound I heard before over and over again for a while. My mother seemed really depressed for the next few weeks; she seldom talked to anyone and spent the days looking towards the right side of the backyard. The Sunday afternoon after the incident and after Kabadaian's "stake-out" ended for the day, I was getting the week's trash together so that my parent's friends could dispose of it. As I was piling the trash I came across a bag with clothes in them. I opened the bag and found some jeans, a pair of panties, and a shirt, the same clothes my mother was wearing during the stairs incident. All of the clothing articles were covered in blood. I got a bit scared when I saw the blood, so I closed the bag and put it with the rest of the trash.

My parent's friends arrived soon after with some more canned food and left with the trash. My mother looked out a window in the kitchen and stood there staring at a tree for quite a while. Once she left I decided to look out the window and try and see what she was looking at. The only thing that stood out in particular was a clearly man-made hole at the foot of the tree. Now, my backyard was littered in holes since my father would dig for worms to eat but this hole was special. While the holes for worms were leveled, the hole my mother was most likely staring at had a lump of dirt over it. The only two explanations would be that my father did not level it correctly or that there was something buried underneath that was not there before the hole was dug. My father had taken the time to level out the other holes, so most likely something was buried underneath, but what?

I quickly remembered the bloody clothes in the trash bag and my mother at the foot of the staircase. I stood there in denial for a minute, but the evidence was mounting up. Tears quietly ran down my cheeks as I came to accept the reality of the situation. While I mourned as quiet as possible in an attempt to garner the least amount of attention as possible, I noticed the TV was on _TNN_. Thump was giving a speech to commemorate his latest half-brained exploit he called leadership.

He stood at the podium saying, "To all those looser establishment types who said I wasn't a real Conservative, I just did what you all talked about but never did. I just closed down Planned Parenthood and every Abortion clinic in the country. Religious organizations from all over the country are calling to congratulate me for this amazing thing I did. Believe me, mothers are going to be giving birth to so many Ronalds in the following months your heads will spin when you see the numbers. Also, it seems fair that God will reward me for this great deed I did for him, he loves me. There are going to be so many babies born and we'll have enough food to feed them all so they grow big and powerful!"

That man's words irritated me so much, how is it that his lies could go on unchecked? There was no food. At that moment I realized why my parents did what they had done; there was no food. They knew there was no way to take care of another child, so they made the hardest choice a parent could ever make. Adding insult to injury Thump shut down Planned Parenthood for one reason, to breed his future army of followers. He believes that, as George Carlin once said of what Conservatives believe, "A woman's primary role is to function as a broodmare for the state." If that wasn't bad enough, he claimed that there was enough food to feed everyone and then some. The lies never ended with Thump. He couldn't understand that even though he and those close to him ate well every day, most of the country was starving every day. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, and that's saying a lot since Thump wrote the book on lowering the bar of human decency. I took a deep breath and led out a loud scream that caught everybody else's attention.


	19. The Great Escape

Eventually, the day had arrived; the day that we finally escaped our prison had come upon us. Like the Dollanganger children, we had finally reached the point where we would no longer tolerate being locked up like caged animals. For the Dollangangers, it was the "death" of Cory that motivated the rest of the kids to escape Foxworth Hall. For the DeVilles, it was the lack of supplies available, thanks to the terrible economy. Another major factor was that Kabadaian was reaching the end of his investigation. My parent's friends visited us one day and told us that Kimi had told them that Kabadaian had enough evidence for his case. My parents could not believe how was it that Kabadaian had garnered enough evidence against them as they had taken every measure to keep their location a secret. I wondered why Kabadaian went through the effort of gathering evidence when he could have killed us on the spot. For God's sakes, Angelica was the Attorney General; the justice system under Thump was a complete sham.

Even though we all wanted to leave this house, we didn't know where to go. All the Airports and Train Stations that could transport people out of the country were shut down. We were also not registered in the system like everybody else, making traveling in public next to impossible. We could have gone to Mexico like every runaway criminal in every movie, but the southern border was completely militarized as a way to clear the area for the Thump Freedom Wall. Canada was the only other option, but it too was difficult to get to. Even though it was less militarized than the southern border, Deplorables patrolled the border for Americans trying to escape the reaches of Thump. My parents, their friends, Bill, and I all sat in the living room one day, trying to come up with a way to keep my family safe when the answer came up on TV.

One of the many beautiful Blonde women that worked as anchors on _TNN_ reported, "After a six month delay caused by recreants acting against our wise and diligent leadership, the Neokosmos Space Station is finally complete. President Thump, who is just terrific, has handed command of the station over to Captain Clayton Crank. The station is scheduled to go up into space next Monday."

"That's it, the Space Station!" Exclaimed Tommy.

"You can't be serious?" Asked Susie.

"Think about it, Kabadaian will search all over the country for them, and they'll be safely hidden up in space. They can hide in the hull where all of the supplies are, there's bound to be a lot of food and water. And if, God forbid, they do get caught, what are they going to do, separate them? They won't be able to keep them that far apart," Tommy explained.

"Well, it's the best option of survival we have," my mother added.

"So, it's settled, next Monday Chuckie will take them to LA so they can sneak on board the station," Tommy said.

Chuckie nearly choked on his drink as he spit it out and asked, "Why do I have to take them?"

"Because Chuckie, you are the only one of us who isn't registered as a threat," Tommy said reminding Chuckie, referencing the bands that marginalized those who were looked down upon by White Supremacists.

Soon enough, Monday, September 4, 2017 arrived, and a new chapter for the DeVille family was about to begin. Chuckie arrived at around five in the morning to pick us up and drive us to the launching site. I went over to my parent's room and found my mother putting on her most prized possession, a diamond necklace. The necklace consisted of a silver chain with a round cut diamond pendant. It's been a family heirloom for generations and the story goes that it belonged to Marie Antoinette. I personally doubt that it belonged to the infamous queen; while it is beautiful, it's quite small for it to look like it belonged to royalty. Even though I never bought into the story, I never told my mother how I felt, but I would rather tell her that than the truth about diamonds. As former _De Beers_ Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer once said, "Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill." Yes, diamonds are pretty much worthless, _De Beers_ jacked up the price to make a fortune. Either way, my mother put on her diamond necklace but hit it under her shirt so that if we were caught it wouldn't be taken away from her.

We couldn't take any luggage with us since there would be no space for us. I had to leave all of my possession, including my most treasured belongings, the Dollanganger Books. I hid them in a box under my bed, hoping that one day I would be able to return and retrieve them. As Chuckie pulled up to the house, my entire family stood near the door waiting. I looked at a family portrait where my mother sat on a chair on the lower left side, Bill stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. I stood on the lower right side of the portrait while my father, who was placed in the middle, rested his hands on the shoulders of Bill and me. It was a bit hard for me to leave this house as it was the only home I knew, but we had to leave for our safety.

Since driving us around was considered a crime, we had to remain hidden. Chuckie had the trunk of his car modified to be able to conceal my parents, my brother, and myself. My father got in first, then my mother, Bill followed, and then I got in. Chuckie sealed the secret compartment, then the trunk, and began to drive. All four of us were cramped up in the back for a bit over two hours. My mother put her hands together and began to recite the _Lord's Prayer_ and _Hail Mary_ prayers over and over for quite a while. We made various stops, but none of them were as terrifying as the last one.

Chuckie pulled up somewhere and suddenly we heard a voice call out, "Your pass, sir."

A confused Chuckie asked, "Excuse me?"

"I can't just let you in without a pass."

It was quite silent for a while until Chuckie asked, "Well, how about now?"

"Now that I think about it, you look like a good White Christian man. What could you possibly do?" Said the man.

Chuckie drove for about two minutes before he made his final stop. When he opened the trunk, we found ourselves parked in a dark corner. One by one, Chuckie helped us get out of his car's trunk. My father asked Chuckie what he did so that the guard would let him enter. It turned out that Chuckie had bribed the guard; just like Thump, the guards were corrupt. Saying goodbye was the hardest, we didn't know for how long we would be gone or if we would ever be able to see him again, but we had to take that chance. Before he left Chuckie handed my mother and I armbands, similar to those worn by Tommy, Dil, and Susie. Both of the armbands had the number seven on them, representing how attractive we were to the Fat-Shaming Commission. I asked if I had to wear one since I was only nine but Chuckie said that even girls my age are subjugated to these laws.

Chuckie got back in his car and drove off, leaving us alone in this industrial zone. All four of us made sure not to expose ourselves as we walked towards the hallways that lead to the station. The walls of this wide, grey hallway were covered in portraits of Thump, Kabadaian, and Angelica, and the flag of the UST. Whenever anyone would pass us my father would put his hands on my mother and my shoulders to make it look as if he was escorting us. We eventually reached a large lobby with windows overlooking the station. It was a large white ring with a tall cylindrical tower rising from the center. There were many hallways that connected the tower to the circle making walking around the different parts of the station possible.

There was a doorway at the far end of the lobby that appeared to lead to a hallway that took you straight to the shuttle. There were a few people in the lobby that was decorated like the hallway we had just taken. My father whispered that we should remain calm while we walked down the large lobby, but once we were in the clear we ran towards the door. Once inside, we closed the door behind us and ran down the hallway. We eventually reached the end of the hallway and the entrance of the station's hull. The room's walls were covered in exposed metal beams and the room was full of crates of supplies.

"Wow, this totally looks like the inside of the Reptar robot," my mother commented.

My father nodded in response and said, "Okay, this will be our home for a while, so let's make ourselves home."

My father moved a few crates to make room for us; he went through a few of the crates and managed to create makeshift beds for all four of us. My mother went through the food and water and prepared a small meal for us. We had not eaten all day, and any meal we ate recently was not nutritionally sufficient, but we ate it all. Sure, the food was Astronaut food, but it was food none the less. We all felt safe in the hull, but that feeling of safety soon left when an unexpected guest arrived.

The sound of grunts and crates being forcefully moved was followed by Angelica appearing out of the corner with a gun and exclaiming, "Ah ha, I found you guys!"

My mother jumped off the ground and screamed, "Oh God, Angelica!"

"No, no, no, no, no, It's Attorney General Pickles. Say it right. Do you know how much ass I had to kiss to get that job?"

"Do you even do the work?" My father asked as he embraced my scared mother.

"Oh no, screw the work. No, I turned the Justice Department Building into my personal palace, but that's not the point. I've already alerted the captain, and if I don't return in the next ten minutes he and his men know to come down here."

Bill was off somewhere, but when he heard the commotion that was Angelica moving crates around, he ran back to us. Unfortunately, he came to close to Angelica and she got him in a headlock.

Angelica pointed her gun to Bill's head and said, "Wait, you have two kids? Then that mean, eww, gross, you did it more than once! I mean, Lil, I could understand if you did Phil once. We've all had the desire to bang a relative at least once in our lives. I could also understand doing it once, faking your death, and running away to avoid the shame; but you did it again!"

"They're twins Angelica, let him go!" My mother cried out with tears running down her cheeks.

"Oh, okay, I guess that checks out. It's kind of ironic that you had twins, huh," Angelica replied.

Even though Angelica was caught off-guard, my father had to make an irrelevant comment that took up time, saying, "But you know, we did it more than once, and she liked it."

I could not believe the stupid things my father said from time to time, I loved him, but I had to say, "Dad, what are you doing? Why are you bragging about your intimate life right now? She's got a gun to Bill's head!"

The room got tenser by the second; Angelica was acting more irrational as the seconds past. She threatened to shoot Bill in the head since she would still have me. She said that Thump and Kabadaian had given her the authority to keep me as her "Personal Assistant," which was obviously code for slave. She could have both Bill and I, but if he had to die so she could at least have one slave then she was going to have to shoot him. Luckily, Bill summoned the courage to fight back even when the gun was right on his head. He extended his neck, opened his mouth, and bit down on her arm. Angelica screamed in pain, but she let go of Bill, who ran into the open arms of our mother.

We finally had the chance to escape from Angelica's reach. My father grabbed my arm as he followed my mother who was pulling Bill from his arm. All four of us ran around the hull, traversing all of the cargo. The pain of Bill's bite faded away and Angelica began to pursue us. She tried to shoot us down with her gun but she missed every shot she fired. The chase came to an end when we took a wrong turn, trapping ourselves in a corner adjacent to a wall of long, opened tubes.

Once Angelica noticed where we were, she pointed her gun straight at us and screamed, "I still have one bullet, and you don't want to piss me off! I did so much Cocaine before coming here!"

With Bill in my mother's arms and her in my father's arms, I knew I had to do something. That same energy that surrounded me before many of my most pivotal moments overcame me. As Angelica ran towards us with her gun out, I charged toward her with my right arm behind my body. I formed a fist with my right hand and once I got close enough I lunged my arm towards Angelica and punched her in her abdomen. She walked back in response to the pain and shot her final bullet towards the roof of the hull. Supplies came raining down, striking her and tripping her into one of the opened tubes. As she lied on the walls of one tube trying to figure out what just happened, I rushed over to the tube, closed the see-through door, and locked it.

"Let me out of here you little mutant rat! God, I'm going to kill all of you when I get out!" Angelica screamed as she realized she was trapped.

Before anyone in my family could react to what just happened, the tube appeared to turn on. The inside of the tube began to fill up with liquid and before you knew it the tube fogged up. You could hear Angelica kick and scream from the inside for a while, but in less than thirty seconds her cries stopped. We could not see what was going on inside because of the fog. My father reached up and wiped the glass all the way down with his hand to reveal Angelica, suspended in an angry position. Her eyes were bulging out, her mouth was wide open, and her fists were up in the air.

"Why is she like that?" Bill asked.

I looked at the small switchbox on the side of the tube and said, "Cryo-Chamber, she's in a Cryo-Chamber."

"Well, who cares in what she's in, we have to hide," my father said before grabbing my arm and pulling me as we all ran.


	20. The Sentencing

Even though Angelica appeared to be encased in a Cryo-Chamber, she told us that the ship's crew knew we were down here. This was the worst thing that could happen; we would get caught on board the station. We ran throughout the hull trying to find a place to hide from the crew but every place was no good. With each passing minute we got even more nervous. I was shaking for a while, but eventually I realized that the majority of the shakes were not caused by any kind of anxiety.

I looked out a small window on the wall and called out to my family, "You guys need to see this."

In front of our very eyes, the station's rocket engines ignited, sending the station towards the sky. As the station got off the ground we all realized just how large the station was. We though the hull we were in was the lowest level of the station, but it turned out that the cylindrical tower that we though rose from the center of the ring actually extended below the ring. The station must have looked like a doughnut with a sausage wedged in its hole. It's a bit disturbing that I picked that specific imagery to describe the station, I blame my parents.

Eventually the station reached its intended destination, space, meaning the loss of gravity sent us into the air along with all of the supplies we had moved around. I looked out the window and noticed that the main rocket engines shut off, causing the station to stop moving as fast. Once the station got in different position, I could see the Earth. I had a clear view of North America and the night lights of Russia. I was taken away by the amazing view than only a handful of people before me had the opportunity to watch that I didn't have a chance to brace myself for the loss of zero-gravity.

One second we were all floating in the air, the next, we were lying on the floor of the hull. There were clearly scientific breakthroughs during the preconstruction period if there was a way to simulate the gravity of Earth in space. We all experienced a sense of disappointment as we could no longer float, but it sure was a special experience. With all of the events that occurred in the last few minutes, we were quite unsure what to do next. All four of us got together to try and figure out what we should do next but the voice of another man caught our attention.

"Fire," the man's voice said as sounds of air being squeezed out of something followed.

Out of nowhere I felt as if something had stung me in the arm. I looked to it and noticed that someone had shot a dart into my arm. I tried to stick out my other arm to remove the dart but I felt so drowsy that I could not remove it. All of a sudden, everyone in my family, including myself, fell to the floor. As I lied on the floor, nearly passing out, I saw who had fired the darts, the Station's security forces. Before I completely passed out, two thoughts came through my mind, "Deplorables" and "Tranquilizer Darts."

When I regained consciousness I began to panic as I could not move my legs and arms or could not see. I heard someone walk towards me and before I could react I could see again. The man who walked up to me was holding bags of dark cloth in his hand; the bag was what made it look like I had gone blind. I also noticed that I was seated in a chair that tied down my arms and legs in clamps. My entire family was seated and restrained in similar chairs, my parents were already conscious but Bill was still passed out with the bag on his head. The man with the bags took Bill's bag of his head and gave them to one of his assistants.

The man put his hands on both sides of Bill's head and slapped him with his right hand first and his left hand left over and over, rocking Bill's head, as he said, "Wake up! Wake up Boy! Wake up!"

Bill eventually regained consciousness and began to panic when he realized he was in restraints. The man gave him a big slap on the cheek and that stopped him from panicking. All four of us waited in a white room with a large black monitor in front of us. The man went over to the door and opened it for a man with tanned skin and combed dirty blond hair. He was dressed in the navy's white service dress and white peaked cap.

The navy man took a seat at a table next to the monitor, took off his cap, and said in a Bayou accent, "Hello there, I'm Captain Clayton Crank, captain of the Neokosmos Space Station."

"Hello to you to," my mother responded.

"You know, I don't care much for stowaways. If it were up to me, you would have been disposed of already, but I have order," Captain Crank said as he turned on the monitor with a remote.

When the captain turned on the monitor, the image of Kabadaian seated at his desk appeared and said, "Well, it had to come to this. DeVilles, as you know I am Secretary Kabadaian, but before I was the Secretary of Defense I was the Chief-of-Police in Yucaipa, as you can see I am coming to you from my old office at the Yucaipa PD Headquarters. I have been investigating you for about a year now, and today was the day all of my work was about to pay off. Before I stepped down as Chief-of-Police, I made sure to find out where you were hiding and bring you to justice. We raided your house today but found nobody there. Luckily, we have gathered enough evidence to prove you were there. Because you escaped, I now need to find people to replace all of you, doubles if you will."

"Why would you need doubles?" My father asked.

"At this very moment, you are the breaking news story on every news station, the front cover of every newspaper, and the top trending story on social media in the world. But because you are not in my custody, I'll need doubles to play you guys and make everyone believe that I succeeded. They'll do the television interviews and will be at your trial," Kabadaian added in an annoyed tone.

"My God, everybody knows," my mother cried as she realized all the work she put into making sure the world didn't know about us was all for nothing.

Kabadaian chuckled as he continued saying, "Yes, everybody knows, and everybody will see your doubles get punished for it. Now, don't think that means you are off the hook. The Neokosmos Space Station is scheduled to return to Earth in 2027, meaning you'll be prisoners on the station for the next ten years. Once those ten years are up, your executions will be privately handled by me. You just had to do this, do that vile act and stowaway on a Space Station, but now you will pay the price for your sinful acts. Captain Crank, I leave you in charge of the DeVilles for the next decade."

"Thank you Secretary Kabadaian, It will be an honor doing you this service," the captain said as he stood up and gave Kabadaian the Nazi salute, the official salute of the UST.

"Whatever you do, don't let the adults die. If any of them have to die, let it be the children," Kabadaian added before the monitor turned off.

Captain Crank walked away from the table and toward us and said, "So, it appears I have complete control over all of you for the next few years. I'll put you to good use; you'll be just like our prisoners."

"We'll make sure to keep you in separate rooms. No hanky panky for you two," the captain said as he pointed at my parents.

"Um, excuse me but did you say prisoners?" My father asked.

"Yes, you heard me right. The maintenance crew and the test subjects are all convicts," the captain replied.

"Um, excuse me again, test subjects?" My father asked like before.

"Yes, our on-board scientists run different experiments on our human test subjects. But, what should I do with you four? I guess I should start with the woman; report to the maintenance crew, you'll be working with them. Cleaning is what a woman should be doing anyways," the captain said.

While one of the men took my mother out of the room, Captain Crank turned to me and Bill and said, "You two will be perfect for out Space Pod project."

I raised my finger as I could not raise my hand and asked, "Space Pod project?"

"You heard me right, what you two will be doing is piloting a Space Pod. You see, sometimes we'll need someone to go outside the station for maintenance work or to explore objects out in space. It's a dangerous job that requires two people per pod, that's why I'm giving it to you two," the captain told us.

Captain Crank turned to my father and said, "You, you'll make sure these children follow instructions from the instructors, myself, or other officers, but no one else. Don't think you'll be able to call any shots around here."

After that speech, Captain Crank left the room and the second man escorted me, my father, and Bill to our jobs. While we passed through the hallways I saw my mother in the distance. She was mopping the floor when two officers walked by and spit on the floor she had already cleaned. My and Bill's job was much more complex, we were to report to a simulator every day before we could ever use an actual pod. Bill and I agreed that I would be the main pilot and he would be the co-pilot. The simulator consisted of a pod hanging from the roof and a large, curved monitor to mimic space.

We spent the next couple days training at the simulator. Sure, I was one of the few who learned how to pilot a Space Pod, but that wasn't enough to raise my spirits. We were now convicts on board the Neokosmos Space Station. Dil turned out to be correct; the government was using prisoners as Guinea Pigs on board the Neokosmos Space Station. I could only see Bill and my father when Bill and I were training, and I could only see my mother when we passed her after Bill and I finished our training for the day. I thought we were the Dollanganger children back home, but at least back home we could go out if we planned everything in advance. We became the Dollanganger children on board the Neokosmos Space Station. We were four souls trapped in an enclosed space because Conservative "Christians" looked down on the choice two people made years ago. But, like Cathy Dollanganger says at the end of the _Seeds of Yesterday_ film, everything fades with time thus leaving room for hope.


End file.
